Guest Cancellation, but guest won't cancel

[Brianna31]

We are new to airbnb (Feb 2018), live in a small community, and have our cabin available for guests. 

We have a guest that is scheduled for Sun-Wed and we have a moderate cancellation policy. Our guest emailed me 4 days before their scheduled arrival asking to cancel. I responded by asking if they'd like to rebook or cancel all together. The guest responded with "cancel all together". After looking into the cancellation process, I sent the response to ask the guest to cancel.

We rely on our reviews for bookings and are looking forward to the superhost status Apr 1. 

After not hearing from my guest all day, I receive the following message at 9pm:

Not f***ing coming. Keep the f***ing money! Do not send me another f***ing e-mail! Do you f***ing understand!? Keep the f***ing money! Don't give a f***! But, if I get another email

Not sure if we should take the hit and cancel the reservation on our end? Do I refund the money? Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,

Bri

[Fred13]

If a guest actually doesn't show up and leaves a negative review, it doesn't matter what they write, for they could be made out to look like a total fool easily.

[Kelly149]

@Fred13 but that review can very much harm a host's review metrics (it takes quite a lot of 5* reveiws to overcome the malicious 1*/2*/3* review). Yes, anyone reading the specifics will know that guest is out of line, but the computer doesn't read, it just does the math. Many of us need to be much more vigilant with our review stats now under the new system.

[Fred13]

  I just stopped by the island and got to talk to my existing guests, the subject of 'odd' reviews came up and how they view 'lunatic' reviews as nothing more than comic relief.

    Well this whole forum conversation is based on an absurdity - a guest that didn't even stay, can leave a review and vice versa. Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas.

[David126]

@Brianna31

Exactly the turnout I think most of us would expect, hence the comments you received.

[Kelly149]

@Brianna0I can concur that in the case of a guest changing their mind, or not wanting to follow rules, ABB can and very likely will refund all the fees. You should not necessarily rely on your cancellation policy ever being upheld (thus why I have a moderate, I don't think Strict would ever do me much good).

BUT I have also decided (after seeing first hand just how useless CS can be once a guest is in residence) that I would rather have dates go empty and unpaid and not have an awful guest in my space (this is even more important now that a bad 1*/2*/3* review can literally tank months worth of work in your review matrix).

So, you didn't get paid but you dodged a truly awful guest and in my book that's about as good as it will ever get with ABB.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Brianna31

I would say that was a lucky outcome.  Definitely good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Fred13]

@Brianna31You are new, so probably surprised how this turned out. Remember however, once any host-guest conflict arises and is brought up to Airbnb's attention, anything is possible, why some of us never call them and handle our own affairs as they happen. In this case, the guest was within the 5 days (Moderate policy), behaved like an animal, and still got a full refund. Go figure.

[Lois309]

This is what I really don't get!! I'm in this situation now, the guest wants to cancel, isn't happy with my 50% cancellation fee, so is now refusing to cancel, saying she's going to stay after all......I'm in a situation now where I HAVE to cancel her...... so she'll get her full refund and I get nothing! How does that protect the Host?????