Penalized for COVID Cancellation

[Maxine33]

I am at a bit of a loss here and am hoping someone can offer me some guidance.  Last week I received an instant booking from someone traveling from NYC.  The governor of South Carolina issued an order a day or two before prohibiting rentals less than 90 days to people coming from COVID hotspots, as such I immediately notified the guest and he attempted to cancel his reservation.  Unfortunately for him, the system wanted to charge him for the cancellation.  When I attempted to cancel it, I was given a COVID option that left the days blacked out on my calendar but not one that would still show the days as available.  

No judging, but my place is available to people moving to the state, stuck in town without a place to go, medical professionals, and other COVID responders. 

I reached out to CS and spent two painfully, frustrating days in text messages trying to get the reservation cancelled and checking to see if a banner could be placed on SC listings letting people know about the order.

After two days of slow responses from Abhinav, including sending him a copy of the Governor's order, the matter is still not resolved but he did finally  cancel the reservation and freed up the dates on my calendar... and penalized me for the cancellation!

Honestly, I am at a loss.  First, as a host that allows instant booking I thought I had the right to cancel any reservation without penalty?  Second, why did it take him two days to do what he said initially he would do immediately?  Third, How can I get this fixed?  Abhinav is ghosting me and I am pretty frustarted with the way Airbnb is treating me.  

Thanks for any help or insight you can offer.

Kindly, Maxine

[Maxine33]

and oddly enough, a new link just showed up on my host dashboard to https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2780/travel-restrictions-and-advisories-in-north-america which has a copy of the Governor's order I sent to CS.  But I am still being penalized for the cancellation.  

Now I am even more frustrated and confused than before. 😐

[Maxine33]

In case anyone else is dealing with this I am just updating as I go along.  Since the original CS rep is completed non-responsive, I started a second ticket and requested a supervisor or someone in level 2 support (if that exists at Airbnb) but unfortunately the person just closed the thread since the other one was still open.  

I know these guys are busy but we all have our challenges right now during the time of COVID - hosts too.  

[Sandra856]

@Maxine33 If you need to cancel an instant book from your side as a host you have to do it a certain way. Google "instant book cancellation without penalties" and you will see how to do it. You are able to cancel 3 instant book stays if you feel "uncomfortable" with the stay within a year. That's the word you will need to use "uncomfortable" when you write why you would like to cancel or if you talk with a CS person.

I have done it from my side alone several times.

The waiting time right now is probably long because of Corona but just keep contacting them - I have never had an issue with any of the cancellations or been penalized. You should be able to cancel without even having to explain a thing when it is an instant book - just say you feel uncomfortable with the booking. If it ever happens again that you need to cancel an instant book then just follow the "cancel without penalties for instant bookings" and you can easily google how to do it - it is easy and the cancellation itself takes less than 2 minutes and will say in the end that the stay has been cancelled without penalties for either guest/host. 

Greetings from Copenhagen /Sandra

[Anonymous]

@Maxine33   I don't know whether you'll be able to have the penalty reversed, but I would strongly suggest that you deactivate Instant Book. Your situation requires you to have highly selective guest screening; this is not realistically compatible with IB.