Why I get penalty after I cancelled an instant booking against my house rules?

[Z-2]

I just cancelled a reservation. That's the first cancellation I had. The guest booked our house using instant booking. He will bring a dog. He gave me an inquiry about that. I was just about reply No and he booked (only 4 minutes after he submit an inquiry). Our house rule clearly states NO pet policy. Then I replied him we can't accept him because of that. Then I proceed to cancel this reservation. 

When I cancelled online, there is no selection as "Against house rules", so I picked "Others" and write "they will bring dog and I have no pet policy". But it says I need pay $50 cancellation fee. Why? Anyway, I still cancelled it, thinking the earlier cancel, the better for both of us.  But because of this,  I not only get $50 penalty, they also block my dates. But why, I think it should be penalty-free. From this article: "How do penalty-free cancellations work for Instant Book hosts?"
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/how-do-penaltyfree-cancellations-work-for-instant-book-host...
it says:
"Hosts who have Instant Book turned on for their listing can always cancel, without penalty, if they’re uncomfortable with a reservation.

Some examples of when a host can cancel penalty-free include:

The guest has several unfavorable reviews that concern the host
The guest hasn’t responded to questions the host needs to know about their trip
The guest makes it clear they’ll likely break one of the host’s house rules, like bringing a pet or smoking"

So I am uncomfortable with this reservation because he will bring a dog. It should be penalty-free cancellation. 

I called Airbnb (waited a long time), the Airbnb lady insists I just can't cancel any reservations  on guests. If I do, there is a penalty and date block. She said the only way I can prevent this is turn "instant booking" off. Is there something wrong here? It seems unreasonable at all and against their own policy. Thanks!

[Z-2]

@Susie0 

That’s the article I am referring too. In that article, this cancellation should be penalty-free. It’s an instant bookIng and the guest will bring pet which against house rule. I have submitted this to Airbnb support team and waiting for their reply. Thank you for reply.

[Sarah977]

@Z-2  In the future, if you get an IB where the guest has failed to read your house rules, or simply ignores them and indicates that they are going to bring a pet anyway (or anything not okay with you), you can try handling it in a different way. You can message the guest something like "Hi XX, I'm very sorry, but it appears that you failed to read through my house rules before booking, where it is clear that I don't accept pets. I cannot accept this reservation if you are bringing a dog. Please cancel ASAP, so you will be eligible for a full refund and be free to book another place which can accommodate your needs."

That can make it so you don't have to do the cancelling. If the guest fails to respond and doesn't cancel, then you'd have to cancel yourself. But it's worth trying to get them to do so first.

[Z-2]

@Sarah977  Yes. You are right. Learn the lesson. Thanks!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Z-2 was it a service dog by any chance?

[Z-2]

@Mike-And-Jane0 I don’t think so, he had inquiry asking me to accept the pet saying how the dog has good behavior, never mentioned service dog. Also it’s a toy dog. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

@Z-2 in order to get cancellafion penalties waived, you have to initiate the cancellation through your customer support call. 

[Z-2]

@Anonymous From the article (link mentioned above), for instant booking, it can be cancelled penalty free online. Maybe I should not pick ‘others’ as a reason?

[Anonymous]

@Z-2   I really wish Airbnb would update its Help Center articles when they change the relevant features or policies. If the "I'm uncomfortable or the guest has broken my House Rules" option isn't available for you to select, then it's best to act with the assumption that the penalty-free online cancellation option is either not available or not applicable, and call Airbnb for assistance.

If you get an alert in the cancellation process that penalties will apply, that means penalties will apply. It's much easier to get penalties waived before the fact than reversed after the fact. 

[Z-2]

@Anonymous Yes. Now, they have selection as ‘I am uncomfortable or Covid-19...’, looking back, I think I should select that, but I was thinking that’s not exactly match, since when I saw that, I just think about Covid-19, not broken house rule. So I picked ‘others’ and wrote down the reason.  I think that caused the trouble. But Airbnb shouldn’t give me such penalty just because I selected a wrong button. Talking or messaging the support wait too long and they just really can’t help much. The support yesterday saying they Forwarded my case to a support team member can better assist me, but have get reply back yet. This is really hard lesson learned for me. Thanks!

[Inna22]

@Z-2 You should call back and talk to a different rep referencing the article.

[Z-2]

@Inna22 I will try to call again if I don’t get any reply from support team. It just wait too long. Yesterday, it said estimated time is 5 minutes at beginning, but it turn out wait about 50 minutes. Thanks!

[Robbie54]

 @Z-2  For reasons already documented on this forum hosts are having to wait an eon to talk to someone, even then some questions cannot be answered by a  phone representative so they forward it to a different department which then take days to get answered. And getting a different rep does not necessarily mean a better outcome. In my experience reps know very little about basic things, and they don't all sing from the same hymn sheet. The times I've had to contact Airbnb about an issue (sometimes simple) I'm always expecting a battle to get a factual answer. They've always been a nightmare and now, admittedly through nobody's fault, it's even worse due to the timescale I've just mentioned.

Rant over 😉 

[Z-2]

Yes. You are right. Just get off the phone with Airbnb. The Airbnb representative didn't do anything other than told me they have already submit my case to support department and I will be contacted in a few hours. I really hope I can get something in a few hours. Thanks!

[Z-2]

@Robbie54

[Anonymous]

@Z-2  The main party that benefits from Instant Book is Airbnb. For hosts, not so much - as is evident by all the time and hassle you've been through because an inappropriate booking got through. Some here on the forums swear by IB, but uncoincidentally they're also some of our most frequent complainers.