Hello,
I recently had a reservation that my guest cancelled the same day of his arrival, because he had a car accident during his travel. The next day airbnb sent me a message asking if I was willing to consider allowing him to receive a refund, mentioning that the decision was completely up to me. After some thought I finally opted not to offer a refund, explaining that even though I’m really sorry for the car accident they had, I don’t have to take it on my shoulder. Cancellations on the same day can be quite disruptive for the host, who has put a lot of effort and time to prepare the place and usually is not lucky enough to have another last minute reservation for the same days. In addition, I had to travel from my hometown a significant distance in order to welcome the guests that cancelled. I believe that on such occasions Airbnb should offer to possible guests the opportunity for a travel insurance that would cover them for such matters.
Airbnb responded that my explaination was completely reasonable and they were fine with my decision. After 2 days, however, I received a message from the guest who cancelled where he was stenuously demanding for his reservation money back and "threatening" to claim them through legal action if I didn't accept. In the meanwhile and to my surprise, I saw that he had already left a public review, despite the reservation being cancelled, which for sure will be very unfavorable when it appears..
How is it possible to get a review from a cancelled reservation? This guest never stayed at my apartment and never met me. Secondly, when I opted not to offer a refund I believe (and was reassurred by Airbnb) that I acted within the frame of my cancelation policy (moderate) and the airbnb policies and standards. Also, I explained thoroughly my reasons for not offering the refund and airbnb found them reasonable. Is it possible that the review can be removed since it is about a reservation that never took place? What are your thoughts on refund requests after same day cancellations?
