@Stacy-And-John0 , I got the letter a few days ago as well, it doesn't really affect us so much cause we have always had the most liberal cancellation policy anyways, so they could always get the bulk of their payment back as long as they canceled at least 24 hours out. That has worked well for us but were less of a vacation destination and more of just a descent place to stay if your in the area for something. That said, I've had many cancellations as well as a few new bookings cause like you, were kinda in the middle of nowhere, no major outbreaks of anything but boredom and Bearpath Lodging is open for business.
I understand how tough this has been to try to keep floating when the waters are so turbulent, your in good company here. Unfortunately a major part of the confusion and anger is about cancellation vs extenuating circumstances. Were all calling them cancellations cause that's the action that is taking place but in reality, its not a cancellation for the most part even if its the "Cancel" button folks are hitting to empty our calendars cause there is no "EC" button.
You've been doing this for 5 years so your likely happy that Airbnb is a global community of both hosts and guests, lots of visitors from everywhere is both enriching intellectually but also monetarily. This is one of those times that not doing business completely on a local level could be a negative, our personal situations as hosts in particular is not really what matters to a global community. If the guest can't travel or hosts can't host for one of 20 perfectly reasonable "beyond their control" extenuating circumstances, its part in parcel to theft not to return monies if services cannot be rendered due to the virus. The only way to deal with that en mass at the corporate AIrbnb level is group policy based on generalizations and it has favored the customer first as has best practices of commerce since the beginning of time.
Hopefully the holes that EC's leave in your calendar can and will be filled with new bookings that will happen and not cancel. Thats a possibility and the thing I'm focusing on in light of changes that are opening up parts of the world to business, how to do this safely every time until the cure is available? We have taken some steps already and expect that more will be necessary, happily we have a great community here that will share their wins and losses with us so we all don't have to experience everything before getting it right. Stay well, JR
