This has become more importantly lately for me. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I've had a lot of cancellations in the past month or two. Guests are saying they found a lower price at the last minute. It seems, they are booking then hunting for last minute deals. I think you can always find an owner that has cut their price down at the last minute to fill some open days, and they are booking it. That just puts me in the same position of lowering my rate to fill in days. In fact, who knows - maybe some of the people booking my room at the last minute are doing the same thing to someone else.
Airbnb could really help hosts solve this by having different tiers of refunds. At least maybe a non-refundable amount we can set, like $100, that a guest is charged. That alone would maybe stop someone from hunting at the last minute.
I don't want to penalize people that have legitimate medical or family reasons to cancel, but when they are just blocking my calendar knowing they are going to search at the last minute, that isn't fair to hosts.
