This is some new Airbnb con! We just had the same. Airbnb cancelled a reservation for 3 nights in September. The guest, who has stayed with is 3 times since 2014 had requested to cancel citing COVID-19. We kindly explained that they are not covered by Airbnb's "COVID-19 extenuating circumstances policy" and as we cannot afford to offer free cancellation, if they did cancel, then we would be kind enough to provide them with a discount for the same amount off a future Airbnb reservation.
The guest had cancelled with us in the past and was always happy to accept this offer.
However, this time not.
Then out of the blue, we received an email from Airbnb to say that the reservation "doesn’t appear to be legitimate. As a result we have cancelled the reservation and refunded the payment."
So I contacted this and now they are trying to tell me a bull**bleep** fairy-tale that "This reservation was cancelled due to an issue with the guests profile, and because of data protection I can not provide anymore information"
This guest has had an Airbnb profile since 2012!!!! Has booked with us multiple times since 2014 and now Airbnb want us to believe this story. If their profile was not legitimate, then why is it still active.
I reckon the guest just wanted to cancel for free and probably had contacts at Airbnb who cancelled on her behalf and are now trying to spin me a story.
I cannot accept being bullied by a corporate like this? Don’t they think we have not suffered enough of late?
Any advice on how we stand legally as at the end of the day, the guest entered into a contract with us.