Host canceled my reservation saying that it's "booked" for selected dates.

[Daniel2099]

Hi,

I was trying to book an apartment for 2 nights for me and my friends. Basically, I wanted to book 2 nights, Dec 30 - Jan 1.

Anyhow, I find a nice looking plcae and place a request to book.

Some time later, a host cancels my reservation saying that there was an "error" in the system and that they were already booked for specific dates - that obviosuly can't be true because I can't even request to book if the dates are already booked.

Host obviously canceled the reservation with hope that someone will book more days and eventually earn more money. I believe that that kind of behavior is not right and that hosts should not be able to do this and blame it on "error in the system".

Is this an allowed behavior?

UPDATE: I may have overracted, simply because the same thing happened to my friends as well. I am aware that the host is not obliged to accept my booking request and can cancel it, but I would feel much better if he/she just told we what is going on, whatever it was, rather than blaming it on the "error in the Airbnb system"

[Donna240]

@Daniel2099 Some hosts use multiple platforms and either link their calendars, or work on them individually. I once had to decline a booking, because I had just accepted a booking on another website a few minutes before their request. Another time I had just purchased transatlantic tickets for my own vacation and a booking came in as I was blocking dates for my trip. So things can come up before the dates are blocked.

[Lisa723]

@Daniel2099 fwiw there have been multiple recent occurrences of Airbnb incorrectly unblocking dates hosts have blocked. This happened to me, and somebody booked New Year's. I felt terrible about it but Airbnb acknowledged they were at fault and cancelled the booking on my behalf.

[Sarah977]

@Daniel2099  If it makes you feel any better, there are major penalties for hosts for cancelling confirmed reservations, unless it truly was a matter of a tech glitch with the calendar, or some extenuating circumstance like a personal medical issue, a fire or water damage in the home, etc. Hosts will have their calendars blocked for the cancelled dates so they can't rebook it, they will have the money that was refunded to the guest docked off their next payment, and they get a "Host cancelled this reservation 3 days before check-in" on their review page, which tends to put potential guest off f booking with them. If it's just one cancellation, guests may overlook this, but if it's apparent that a host has a history of cancelling, that looks really bad. 

[Daniel2099]

Thanks for replying! I apologized to the host for my reaction and she explained that she was just finishing up a booking request for another person.

[Helen3]

So she didn't cancel. She just didn't accept your booking request?