March 24, 2020 City of Palm Springs, CA Emergency order on rentals due to COVID-19

[Jay181]

City of Palm Springs, CA Emergency order on rentals due to COVID-19

https://www.palmspringsca.gov/home/showdocument?id=72780

"No new reservations shall be accepted until after the COVID-19 emergency declaration .. restrictions have been lifted. Any and all bookings through April 30, 2020 ... shall be cancelled immediately. Any guests currently in a lodging facility are directed to return directly home and continue to "shelter in place" in their home community, or remain sheltered in place in the unit.”

$5,000 fine.

Also, as of March 17, 2020 Palm Springs had a “Shelter In Place” order.

[Amber-And-Martin0]

What is the best way to cancel these reservations in order to not have it impact our hosting numbers?

[Jay181]

I just mutually canceled a Long Term Cancellation Policy reservation for May 2020 (they had not checked in yet).
The supper great Airbnb support person said Long Term Cancellations are trickly.
You & your guest should both agree in the reservation message that you both want to cancel
And that you agree to waive your cancellation policy, that they guest will get full refund, and no penalty and you as host will get no penalty & it will not affect your Host status. This way Airbnb support knows you both agree.
Then you should phone Airbnb support (you may be on hold for 35 minutes or more then they can cancel the reservation.

I also found this but could not figure out how to wave cancellation policy on my own.

What does it mean to enforce or waive my cancellation policy?
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/448/what-does-it-mean-to-enforce-or-waive-my-cancellation-policy

Best Luck
Jay