Here in Australia there has been a recent cluster of COVID-19 cases uncovered in a part of Sydney in NSW which resulted in the rest of Australia closing their borders with the Greater Sydney area until further notice.
Ironically I had a number of short duration bookings from Sydney guests over this festive season including 3 around the NYE period. Two of them have cancelled because travel to my state is now not possible without a 14 day quarantine period. One of them however, a booking for the night of NYE, the 31st, will not cancel, she is saying travel looks unlikely but, miracles do happen and will not cancel with Airbnb.
I have had an enquiry for a 3 night reservation over the New Year period from a guest not affected by the Sydney regulations but I am unable to proceed with that booking because of this confirmed one nighter that cannot proceed, yet the guest will not cancel.
I cannot get Airbnb's position on this and where I might stand if I cancel because, when I phone for support no matter what option I select I am directed to Airbnb's standard help pages which do not provide any assistance for this and I am not able to actually speak to anyone. And even more annoying it says..."If you are a host all the information is on your dashboard". No it's not, the only information on my dashboard tells me how to offer my listing cheaper.
It looks like Airbnb's position is, until the guest is personally informed officially by some government dept that her travel is not legally possible, her booking has to remain. I can cancel but could be subject to cancellation penalties.
It looks very much like my possible 4 night window which has reopened to accept a reservation is compromised because of a booking in the middle of it which cannot proceed, and customer support are once again offering me none!
Cheers........Rob