I have a cabin in an area that is a popular skiing and snowmobiling destination. To ski or snowmobile you must have . . . SNOW!!! I had a guest that booked several months ago for Thanksgiving (a very popular holiday date) with a strict cancellation policy. There were several areas where snow was forecast over the holiday. During that time only light snow was forecast in the area where my cabin is located. Several days before their scheduled arrival the guest began making various requests for early check-in and other accommodations as members of their groups were coming from different locations where snow was forecast. I agreed to accommodate all of their requests.
A day or so prior to their scheduled arrival the guest indicated that since some people in their group lived in areas where snow was forecast the entire group probably would not come. The guest did not cancel with Airbnb and the group did not check-in to the cabin as scheduled. It did not snow at all on Wednesday when they were scheduled to arrive, or on Thursday. It began snowing late Friday evening. Their original check-out time was Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon, several hours after their scheduled check-out time, they contacted Airbnb and 'cancelled' the reservation that was already completely in the past. Airbnb cancelled their reservation and contacted me to let me know they would be recapturing the entire amount of the reservation (which was already paid out to me after their scheduled arrival date four days ago) and refunding it to the guest.
I do not believe this falls within the extenuating circumstances policy which states:
'If you’ve confirmed your circumstance meets the requirements above, first cancel your reservation and then contact us to file a claim. We’ll walk you through the next steps, which will include submitting any required documentation and waiting for our team to review your case. Claims must be submitted within 14 days of cancellation.'
How do you cancel a reservation which is in the past? They cancelled hours after their scheduled stay had ended. That is no longer a cancellation! This also meant that I was completely unable to re-book these dates.
The customer service agent who made the decision to refund them in full refused to tell me where he was located but did admit that he was outside of the United States and had no knowledge of snow or winter weather. He also could not provide any response as to why the guest was allowed to cancel after the entire reservation period was in the past.
I am now faced with the prospect not allowing any Airbnb guests to book this cabin during the winter season (it is also a popular summer destination). Airbnb provided about 40% of my bookings in the past. I also get bookings from referrals and other booking sites and those sites do not allow guests to arbitrarily cancel under an 'extenuating circumstances policy'. For cabins in ski areas it is not uncommon for it to snow almost every day during the winter and I cannot have Airbnb guests booking prime dates and then cancelling with no recourse at any time - including after their scheduled stay! Especially when there are other guests who are eager to book dates when it is snowing because of the great skiing and snowmobiling.
All hosts that own ski and winter recreation properties need to be aware that Airbnb's policy is now that guests can cancel at any time (including after their scheduled stay) because 'it snows at ski resorts during the winter' and the host will bear the full cost of the cancellation regardless of the cancellation policy the host has selected.