Hi @Victoria620 , Im so sorry to hear about your flagging, be persistent, call and call back again until you get a reasonable resolution. The search enginge is wonky, especially at this moment, I suspect much of that has to do with everyone numbers being abnormal in ways systems built for normal dont calculate well. Im sure they are tweaking the algorithms on almost a daily basis right now. Ive had hundreds of bookings and only a few cancellations over the last 3 years, never have I actually cancelled anyone with that button. Its been mentioned already, Hosts have many ways to cancel without pressing that button and they should use all of those before doing it, the best is to call CS and explain the issue. We had a customer arrive with a dog once (our listing is clear, no dogs)and let CS send them packing, when they asked me if I wanted to cancel the booking I said no but your going to cancel it for me cause it never should of happened to begin with. They obliged my request instantly and Im still at 100% acceptance rate, its all good when it ends well.
I have to say, the mostly shallow research I've done in the last years and comments here from folks like @Marco65 seem to support that the lodging service support supplier that seems most centered on the majority of our bread and butter bookings as smaller non Lux lodging providers is Airbnb (the 21 Century re-creators of the second oldest profession in history, Innkeeper).
The proof is in the Pudding, Bearpath Lodging, in the middle of nowhere upstate NY gets great bookings from all over country and the world and until the virus hit, we were on our way to a 4th year of phenomenal double digit growth. We have always been most liberal/ Flex on cancellation policy but 99% of those arranged bookings prior to the virus crash went very well with very very few cancellations.
Lets not forget what we get for <3%of our gross- My listing looks awesome considering Im a Sciences Instrument Technician by trade not a Hotelier. Its seen all over the world without paying website design or maintenance fees, we get paid for those that stay with us when completed quickly, receive 24 hour/ 7 days a week Customer service that makes sure I don't have to be alert and on my game 24/7/365.
There's more but those are some of the biggies, really, how can you beat that when Credit card processing fees from most would cost that much without another services provided? Also, lets take a quick look at how a bankcard from likely would have dealt with a covid Extenuating Circumstances cancellation, do you think they would have taken more than a minute to decide in favor of the guests after learning the customer wasnt allowed/ was prevented from staying by law in our place that we want to charge them for? Not- AE, MC and VISA dont care about our Lodging cancellation agreements, they are only going to pay for goods and services their customers received when disputed cause they have extenuating circumstances clauses as well. (Some include travels insurance but its often doesnt cover acts of god, catastrophe and others just like our homeowners insurance).
The recent announcement from Brian and Partners that they would terminate (not lay off) a large volume of employees working in "Growth" areas to refocus their energies away from new shiny ventures that are a distraction from both customer and host Care and Consideration is a positive move in hosts favor. At some point most of us that are left after the shakeup will appreciate more that Airbnb was customer Centered, guests will come back to the place that didnt screw them out of their money when many could least afford to lose any for a vacation that never was..
Im not a "Airbnb Company Man" nor an cheerleader, I expect them to do what they promised and what they have done that worked so well for us, we need to hold their hands and feet to the fire until we can verify the foundation is once again solid and our foray into Global Hosting is secure but at least give them the chance to correct with the market changes, Stay well, JR
