Airbnb auto canceling a booking

[Wende2]

Hi all.....if this was a past conversation I apologize.......the other day I got a message from a guest that her booking was cancelled out of the blue, an wondered if I knew why, NOPE no clue, her booking isn't til Sept. and it's a wedding aniversary gift to her parents from she and her sisters, needless to say she was very upset, as was I since Airbnb didn't bother to ask me if I thought it was a legitimate booking.  I seen I had an email about a cancellation an it read.......

We monitor all reservations and user interactions on Airbnb very closely. We’ve noticed this reservation HMAPBJ**** doesn’t appear to be legitimate. As a result we have canceled the reservation and refunded the payment. If you feel this was done in error, please let us know. Otherwise we hope you understand that we do this to preserve the integrity of our marketplace.........Regards, The Airbnb Team........monitor all reservations and user interactions on Airbnb very closely....just what does that entail.?

I called an the guy I spoke with was very nice, even tho after looking himself an asking 2 others, no one could find any reason why the booking was cancelled, this is just too ridiculous for words.  If you can send me an email saying the booking was cancelled, which I'm thinking is done automatically, why can't you send one asking if I think this is a legitimate booking, and the reason for the questioning, sure would have saved a lot anxiety over the situation for both of us.

[Linda108]

@Wende2   So did you have the reservation restored?  I agree that transparency is not the Air BNB way and it can cause great unnecessary anxiety.

[Wende2]

I never thought about asking to restore it, they said she'd have to rebook.  I blocked the dates to hold them for her, once the card shows the refund she's rebooking.  It would just be nice to get a heads up to why they felt it should be cancelled, then I could accept or deline the cancellation.

[Susan151]

@Wende2  You can't really know the whole story, i.e. "legitimate" booking. Trust and Safety could be involved. They could be using a compromised credit card. They could have trashed someone else's property. Since AirBNB is not in the business of NOT renting spaces, the few times that I have received this type of message, I have been relieved that I had enough time before those dates to rebook.

Of course, it could be ridiculous. Or not. 

[Lien14]

I had the same issue with this auto cancellation and the system cannot revert. The only solution for this is just ask the guest to book again. It was quite unpleasant experience for both host and guests.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Wende2  it seems they were booking for someone else and third party bookings are against airbnb T&C. Could be the reason.