Airbnb refunded cancelled guest

[Joanne151]

We had a guest that couldn't make it to our place last weekend because of the snow, they told us 2 hours after check in then cancelled the reservation the next day (they were due to stay for 2 days).  They contacted airbnb for a refund for "exceptional circumstances" and they emailed me to say they were waiting for evidence, 19 minutes later I got an email to say they qualified and were refunding.  They did the refund 3 days after the guests were due to leave so there was no way I could resell the accommodaiton and are now a few hundred pounds out of pocket, this doesn't seem fair.  If the guest had booked with a hotel chain, i.e. Hilton and were unable to go they wouldn't have had a refund if they were out of the cancellation period.

Does this seem unfair to anyone else?

Thanks

[Alexandra316]

@Joanne151 The Extenuating Circumstances policy gets a lot of flak on these boards. Lots of hosts feel that guests are awarded money when they don't deserve to be. Many, many people in Britain have received refunds over the past week and a bit due to the weather.

I would agree that your guest should have cancelled earlier, and should not have been refunded for the night they didn't cancel. If you have this circumstance again, I would encourage the guest to cancel as soon as they say they won't be coming, so you can try and get another booking, regardless of whether or not they will apply for Extenuating Circumstances.

If you want to see the policy changed, go over to Host Voice https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/idb-p/host-voice and vote for one of the many requests to change the policy.