Spoke to Airbnb customer service in Romania......that country closely linked to Airbnb hosts in the UK. As per their rule if a guest asks to cancel under the covid policy and the host does this for them then it invalidates the 25% refund. Guests have to cancel. But it all ended great as Romania confirms that they have waived the two cancellation fees that we incurred for spoiling the guests holiday, even though under UK rules holiday lets are shut and travel not allowed.
Airbnb short of money so they keep around £150 and ignore the thousands we have made them over the years. Latin America or Romania but never a UK call centre.....saves money but we get staff who have no authority and keep asking to repeat the question.