To summarize, the guest placed a reservation for two. A day after they were scheduled to arrive, they canceled the reservation because a friend who was also traveling to Branson (but not staying with us) had an accident. I understand the policy of extenuating circumstances. We had been in contact with our guest and know the situation. The person that had the accident was not staying with us and was not a family member of our guest. We do not understand why we are being penalized for something that was not related to our reservation. We were NEVER alerted that there was going to be a refund. In fact we were sent a link to leave the guest a review as they had stayed with us. We are very unhappy with this situation. We understand that accidents happen, however this was not with our guest, family member, or anyone staying at our home. If guest can place a reservation and cancel days into the reservation because a friend had an issue, it does not seem like a very reliable system for hosts. We need to know who to talk to. We did discuss this matter by email with someone at airbnb and was basically told that this is the way it is.
UPDATE: Customer "service" just sent me a message that the person that had an accident was close to the guest and could "probably be considered" like family. Yep. So, if a host wants to cancel at the last minute on a guest, can we say a friend that is like family had an issue and we need to cancel without penalty?
