Airbnb should offer a "strict" cancellation rule also for hosts, with a penalty that is high enough to prevent hosts from cancelling just because they want to get a better price.
Background - I recently faced the following situation:
- I booked & paid a nice flat in a city where an important congress was scheduled at the same time.
- Afterwards I booked a flight - so everything was set.
- Prices for flats were raising continuously, up to ten times the regular price.
E.g. flats for 150 Euros per night were now advertised at 1,500 Euros per night - unbelievable!
- Suddenly I got a mail from the host: "Sorry, we needed to cancel your reservation. We already sent your money back."
- And the day after I found the same flat now advertised on a different web portal for 3 times the price I had paid!
- Now I had a flight - but no more affordable accomodations were available... 😞
- I looked at the rules for hosts - and obviously the penalty for hosts on Airbnb is way too low to prevent such unfriendly actions!
=> Therefore I suggest to offer "strict" cancellation policies for hosts as an option during the booking process.
E.g. the price for a flat could be 150 Euros (host can cancel "flexibly") or 200 Euros (host can not cancel without being charged 600 Euros penalty = "strict").
This would ensure "fair play" for both guests & hosts.
Without such feature I currently do not recommend to book flats on Airbnb during peak travel times...
