hidden fines for host when guest uses 48 hour grace period cancellation

[Silvia-And-Greg1]

Wanted to write you about a hidden Airbnb policy that is happening to us. A few months ago Airbnb forced a 48-hour free cancellation policy upon us, where guests can instantly book (if the host uses instant book and has a strict policy) and then cancel within 48 hours with no penalties. Airbnb claimed it would help bookings and would not be detrimental to any of us. This is not true. Like in the movie "Animal House" Airbnb has hidden a double-secret probation. If you have too many 48 hour cancelations Airbnb will turn off your instant book and all guests will have to request to book. It has been 18 days now and we are still off. Here is the conversation we have been having with airbnb:
Airbnb Support
4:15 PM
Okay, So I finally got an answer for you and I will leave this pending for a while to make sure. It seems that the issue was in fact created by your guest cancellations and it has flagged your account for a 7-day probation where 50% of guests see your listing as request to book. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I hope my answers have helped to clear things up.

5:49 PM
Andrew thank you for looking in on this. So if guests cancel in the 48 grace period, Airbnb will penalize me? This started the beginning of the month and is still going on, which is past the seven days. When will I be off double secret probation?

Airbnb Support
7:07 PM
I am not sure why its still ongoing, one thing I was told to try is to make some changes on your calendar. For whatever reason, it flags activity on the account. I hope this helps let me know.

7:33 PM
Ok, Andrew, I went into the calendar and changed a few things. I will look tomorrow and see if that helped (give Airbnb computers time to see the changes). I will drop you a line tomorrow.

Airbnb Support
7:56 PM
I will be back in on Monday. If you have any urgent questions feel free to call in. Otherwise, you will be my first priority for a response on Monday. Have a great weekend.

8:05 AM
Morning Andrew, I did change things on my calendar on Friday. On Sunday morning our listing is still not instant book.

[Helen427]

@Silvia-And-Greg1@Valerie512@Nathan92@Jan83@Kathie21

Why are hosts been penalised at all with future bookings when Guests cancel?

i had a coouple of IB guest book and then cancel as they changed there own travel plans which was nothing at all to do with me.

i also had a few challenging issues with Guests who had IB but clearly had not read Terms of Service on Airbnb and I had to guide them through who dinged me with poor reviews.

I'm not sure if it's as a direct result of this I've had a serious drop in enquiries or bookings however as it's summer now in New Zealand one would reasonably expect an increase in bookings..NOT a decrease..
That said I've had challenges with checking my listing is indeed on IB and "Saving" the settings so perhaps there's glitches we haven't been informed about.

Calling @Lizzie29  do you know what's happening?

[Lizzie29]

Hi Helen   .... I'm a very lowly level 2 contributor with little experience in instant book because I don't like to give control to Air bnb over who I have to stay in my house.  Perhaps there is another Lizzie out there who could help you!  

I tried Instant Book for a while and even though they said they would only permit guests with 'good host reviews' to stay, I got requests that did not live up to this expectation from my point of view.

If its any consolation, bookings have been down for many owners listed on Air bnb in North Queensland - me included.  I guess the competition has got just that much stiffer.   I object to being encouraged in a 'race to the bottom' by lowering rates significantly.  Some of the Air bnb daily rate suggestions are just a joke.    Cheers   Lizzie

[Sandi48]

Airbb cancelled our instant book about a month ago. When my husband called to find out why 

He was told it was due to a lack of activity. Here's  the kicker we have a long term guest for 3 months that booked on Air. He mentioned this and did not get a logical answer. Then the rep said it's because  we cancelled someone a whole year ago. ( we were newbies ) 

What the heck is going on??? We love instant book