@Bob43.....Bob, I am so sorry I sounded off like that, you deserve better than that. Some of your posts have had such excellent advice, but when I saw you advising a host to cancel a confirmed booking......my reaction was 'No,No,No' this is not good!
I said that there are 'subtle' ways to get caught where cancellations are concerned! This is an email (with no reply email address) that Airbnb will send to you when a guest wishes to cancel a confirmed booking that 'they' requested.......
John requests that you cancel
Nov 21 - Nov 25 · *********************************************
"You have 48 hours to respond
To make sure that John has time to find a new listing, the reservation will be cancelled on your behalf if we don’t hear back"
Now Bob, that is below the belt because, it looks like Airbnb are being the good guys and trying to iron out the wrinkles that may have happened with the booking because the guest had a change of heart, or travel plans, or 'the cat got run over'....or anything other than actually going through with the request THEY made, which you confirmed!!!
In practice Bob you must respond to this message in the strongest way stressing to Airbnb that you, as the host, were prepared to proceed with the booking, but it was the guest who wished to cancel so, as far as you are concerned the booking is committed and Airbnb must accept the guests cancellation, not yours!! The whole crux of the above statement are the words "Reservation will be cancelled on your behalf"!!! If you accept that or do nothing, as Airbnb suggest, you WILL be penalised!!
Bob, many hosts are being caught with this very unfair tactic and I think I have worked out why. If the guest cancels they lose their service fees, if the host cancels they do not! And I personally have spoken to a guest where the Airbnb helpdesk (on a previous occasion) have told the guest the only way to get all their money back was to get the host to cancel the booking!!!
We Bob, are being shafted as it is, without giving Airbnb the easy way out with cancellations.
Bob keep doing what you are doing mate, but try and learn a bit more.....and you will be an assett to the forum...cheers....Rob