On strict cancellation policy, Airbnb took all the money - 24 hours before check-in cancellation

[Dani7698]

Hello, 

I had a guest who was supposed to check-in on the 21/12/2019. 24 hours before check-in the guest cancelled for whatever reasons. 

Today, i have received an email from Airbnb saying that guest had "extenuating circumstances" and that full refund was issued. 

Airbnb sent me a link in which makes no reference to the Host responsibility in case of "extenuating circumstances" of the guest.

The chosen cancellation policy(strict in my case) should apply. In this document it clearly states that "we"(AIRBNB) is responsible for such full refunds.

Can you please shed some light on this? 

Thanks

[Anonymous]

@Linda108 I don't always buy travel insurance - especially for short haul trips - but I find it unconscionable to ask an independent host who may be dependent on their Airbnb income to absorb an unexpected loss, agaist my agreement with them,  on my behalf.

There are plenty of ways to book accommodation with free or relaxed cancelations, so if I want to have that option I'm not going to book an Airbnb. 

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  And there are also some Airbnb hosts who are more relaxed about cancellations. I had a guest this summer who booked for 5 days, but decided to leave after 2- nothing to do with my place, she just wasn't prepared for how hot and humid it is here at this time of year and she didn't realize there wasn't much of anything here to do aside from beachy stuff. Altho I have a moderate policy, I offered (she didn't ask) to refund her in full for the unstayed nights, as I almost never get summer bookings anyway, so don't count on that income in any way. If she had decided to leave in the middle of my high season, when I could have doubtless gotten bookings for the cancelled nights, I might not have been so generous, but in the case of her reservation, it didn't feel like any skin off my nose and as she was a nice guest, I felt the goodwill was more important.