Hello everyone,
I have a guest who made a reservation in September 2019 for a 13 day stay with check-in date in July 2020. Due to the pandemic and the extenuating circumstances policy, he would have been allowed to cancel the reservation and receive a full refund between March 14 2020 and the check-in time but instead, 1 month ( 5th of June ) before his check-in, he requested a new reservation with a check-in date of July 2021. I accepted.
2 weeks ago, I was again contacted by Airbnb support. They said the guest wanted to move the check-in date another year, to July 2022 to be precise. I denied the request. The case manager immediately told me the guest will receive a full refund due to the extenuating circumstances policy. I told him I disagree with his decision and explained him why. The original date of reservation ( September 2019 ) was for the reservation with a check-in date in July 2020. That reservation didn't happen and the guest asked for a new reservation with a check-in in July 2021 on June 5 2020. June 5 2020 should be the new day the reservation was made right? In that case, he wouldn't be allowed a full refund and my strict cancellation policy would apply. The case manager wasn't much of a help as he said he was going out of office for 2 weeks and one of his colleagues would contact me to continue the conservation.
1 week later, I got an email from another case manager simply saying the reservation was canceled, my calendar cleared and the guest refunded in full. Just like that. I was shocked to read this as we still had an ongoing conversation and I was ( still am? ) sure I am in the right. I told her that this is a violation of my rights of a host and my cancellation policy, that I can't accept that 1 guest is allowed to block the busiest period of the calendar year for 2 years and still get a full refund even though he asked for a new reservation on June 5. I told her I would like for her to forward my case to a supervisor and she did.
I was contacted by her supervisor yesterday, I explained my case to him and all he had to say was that they are only looking at the first day the reservation was made and therefor the guest does get a full refund. The same line the other 2 case managers kept repeating.
Who's in the right here? Let's assume I would have accepted the alteration and the new check-in date would be July 2022. Then the guest decided to cancel his reservation in June 2022. By their logic, he would still be allowed a full refund because of the extenuating circumstances policy 2 years and 9 months after his original day of reservation. That's just ridiculous and wrong. On top of that, this guest blocked the busiest period of the calendar for 2 years straight now.
I'm lost for words. I don't even understand why this is up for discussion. The guest made the new reservation on June 5 2020. He knew the risk and he knew my cancellation policy. I was expecting to host him in a few days but instead he cancels, airbnb refunds him in full and I get screwed over because I probably won't be able to fill these open days now ( just like last year and I only host in July ) and Airbnb overrides my cancellation policy even though I feel like they are not allowed to do so.
