@Lizzie - Thanks for reaching out. Actually, reservations are down - we're down to 81% booking when we were closer to 90%. We will make less money this year than last. Every time someone books and cancels Airbnb is right there asking me if I want to offer a 10% discount so I can get a rebooking. Since I use Smart Pricing, they keep lowering that price further and further in the hopes of attracting someone (they are cultivating a client base that will wait until the last minute - even the Airlines are keen to this crappy behavior and start raising the prices closer to the date). Airbnb has actually "suggested" that I lower my price FURTHER than the first year we started when we had lower prices to get reservations and reviews. Recently they informed me that other hosts in my area were booking at $15 less than my property... so for less than $25/night (we charge on average $40 - where on earth can you stay anywhere for $40?!). And yet, they want to offer me $300 to suggest other hosts. So they need new listings (read: apartment renters in search of a few bucks until their landlord gets wise since subletting is illegal in NC!) and they don't need experienced, quality property owners.
Allowing guests to cancel penalty free is not much unlike allowing for a reservation to be held for 72 hours for multiple guests to pay. There is no incentive for a guest to keep their reservation when Airbnb allows for duplicate bookings (yep, this has happened to me twice recently). They make 3-4 reservations and then go back and see how much sh!!t they can get away with the host. Since we have IB on, this has happened three times to us this last month alone. One guest required an early check in (2 hours early) and since we couldn't guarantee it (we had other guests), even though we tried to provide them with multiple solutions - they cancelled after holding the reservation a week. Another wanted to bring a cat - I'm allergic - and then tried to claim it was a therapy cat (thanks for that, too, Airbnb!) - and when I suggested that they couldn't leave the cat alone cooped up in our guest room unattended and uncrated (becasue of my allergy) and suggested from a therapy perspective that the cat should be with the person who needed the comfort - yup - after 2 weeks - cancelled. Finally, the guest made multiple reservations and asked all kinds of questions about what to do and see in town then cancelled when she "realized" she had double booked. How on earth does Airbnb allow that?! So she got a solid 6 hours of my time talking about the best things to do in town, how to get around, and to settle details about their visit for nothing after 2 days of communication.
Guess, like so many Sharing Economy operations, the only people getting paid are the ones with the investment capital because it absolutely is not the people doing the work. #disappointed