@Erik243
I agree with @Ute42 why should you or the host be worrying about the family that cancelled. That family is the one breaking the agreement and they need to be responsible. Not the other families and certainly not the host.
You could approach the host, explain the situation, and change the reservation details (total no. of guests) to get a partial refund IF there was an additional guest fee to lower the burden for the cancelling family on their behalf.
But to be honest.......the thing about your post that bugs me is your comment "this gives us no incentive to cancel in a timely manor (manner), as the costs for cancelling 3 months in advance are the same as cancelling just 1 week before check-in."
No incentive??? How about doing the right thing instead of thinking of "sticking it" to a host because the host wants the original contract terms to be respected?!?!?!?!?!?! The host did absolutely nothing wrong and your attitude seems very misdirected. You should be talking to that other family about how THEY are going to take responsibility for messing up the plans/reservations that were already made.
The host has no obligation whatsoever to agree to a refund beyond what the cancellation policy states. Rules are rules and YOU (on behalf of your group) agreed to the cancellation policy when you made the booking. If that other family had already booked non-refundable flights, do you think you/they would be having this type of conversation with the airline??? Do airlines refund non-refundable tickets if they are able to re-book those seats????
As for the cancellation policy......https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period
Regarding the guest service fee, this is the blurb~
- The Airbnb service fee is refundable upon cancellation up to 3 times per year. For reservations made by non-South Korean travelers, the Airbnb service fee is refundable up to 3 times per year when cancellation is made within 48 hours of booking. Refund eligibility is determined at cancellation time based on the number of prior cancellations. Separately, if a guest cancels a reservation that overlaps with any part of an existing reservation, we won’t refund the Airbnb service fee if they decide to cancel.
I've also had cancellations before and the thing I can never understand is why guests are okay about not getting their service fee back from Airbnb but they are always upset about not getting a full refund for the accomodation fee?? They don't mind handing over money to Airbnb, but they think a HOST'S time and effort to communicate, deal with their reservation/cancellation, the impact they've inflicted to a host's plans, and the value of the "loss of opportunity" for blocking other potential guests from booking should be for free????