Guest cancelled and is now requesting a refund

[Alyssa13]

I received a message late last night from a guest that was supposed to be checking in today (staying for one night) saying that she had to cancel due to a family emergency. She had sent me messages through Airbnb as well as text messages, neither of which I received until this morning because I was asleep when she sent them. 

She had originally requested that I cancel the trip on my end so that she could receive a full refund, since I have a moderate cancellation policy. I chose to not provide her a full refund for a few reasons:

1) I wasn't sure she was being honest about the family emergency. She had made the reservation a few days ago and I thought it may have been a spur of the moment trip that fell through.

2) There is no time to fill the vacancy and the booking is only for tonight.

3) The whole purpose of having the moderate cancellation policy is to protect me from the associated expenses of having a guest cancel last minute when I've already made all of my arrangements.

I responded to her messages saying that I was not going to make an exception to my cancellation policy and that she would need to cancel on her end. Shortly after, I received a notification that she had cancelled and then almost immediately received another notification saying that she was requesting payment from me. 

Am I being unreasonable by not giving her a full refund? Would it be inappropriate of me to ask what the family emergency was to gain a little bit more clarity of the situation? What happens if I decide not to accept the payment request? 

[David126]

If you had cancelled all sort of nasty things would have happened.

If she really has extenuating circumstances then she needs to contact ABB, nothing for you to do.

[Julie--And-Brian-0]

1. You never want to cancel a reservation on your end. She cancels & abides by your cancellation policy. If she demands a refund anyway, she must contact Airbnb. This is the exact reason for having  strict or moderate cancellation policies in place. I would not ask the nature of the family emergency; it's really none of your concern. Let Airbnb handle it.

[Gieo0]

Have the guest contact Air BnB themselves, it is part of our customer service that we receive.   With a moderate cancellation policy the guest would not qualify for a refund.   It takes time and resources to make a room available for a guest and when a cancellation is requested last minute, there is often no way to re book the space.

[David126]

I see no need to encourage her.