After a ressie being on the books for 6 weeks, lots of chatter about a needed extra bed, options given, habits discussed for optimal comfort, 6 days til check-in & my guest cancelled without a word to me. And he requested full refund, claiming natural calamity left my listing no longer accessible to him. Airbnb contacted me to confirm if the reservation was cancelled with mutual understanding between me and the guest and to see if I am willing to give full refund. My words to Airbnb were:
"This cancellation was not mutual. The concert the guest was coming in town for was cancelled due to weather conditions, this is true. My accomodations ARE still available to him and are not affected by the weather conditions, he's just choosing not to come. I did not want to cancel reservation #xxxyyywwww. The guest did not communicate to me to request cancel. He did not communicate to me to discuss refund. My cancellation polity is set to moderate to ensure I have some compensation after holding dates for guests which I will likely not be able to book last minute. He should claim loss with his travel insurance if he feels it's warranted. Thank you for reaching out to me."
She said she understood my standpoint and closed the case. 3 hours later, guest messages me and we go back and forth like this:
him: sorry must cancel due to a flash flooding happening and he hopes his cancellation it isn't an inconvenience. (which is certainly IS of course.)
me: I'm disappointed he's decided not to come, let him know that the rain hasn't shut down the city, it's business as normal and offered several other music happenings and/or tourist choices that were available.
him: yes, much too dangerous to travel with roads being washed out and a national emergency declared with 2 people dying last week. More bad weather on the way. Hope you stay safe and aren't affected. Thanks for the great communication with the booking!
me: I'm not sure what news station is reporting this information, but we are fine. The city is fine. The infrastructure is fine. No roads washed out, no deaths, no national emergency. It's life as normal here with the exception of the one park the concert was being held at. Another music festival the weekend before had 30,000 boots tromping thru it in a rainstorm and it caused super muddy conditions that they deemed unsafe for yet another concert so soon. But thank you for your concern.
Now, the dates have passed, I received my % that is standard with moderate cancellation policy, and he's just today requesting funds thru another Airbnb channel. Shouldn't this be over? Did Airbnb NOT tell him that a cancelled concert doesn't constitute extenuating circumstances? How many times am I going to have to revisit the same event? AND, if I respond without granting refund, what else can this guest do to "hurt me". It's $160 and I lost a weekend (which I'm NORMALLY filling every weekend at this point). Thoughts? If my answer to refund is still no, how should I word that? Because I've read that we need to choose our words carefully and leave no room for error.
