Have you ever had a fake extenuating circumstances certificate?

[Inna22]

 I have a reservation for early September from a fully grown adult guest coming according to him with his friends.

Today I get a note from Airbnb that his mother passed away and his reservation is canceled under extenuating circumstances. First off, while of course needless to say I feel for him and it is a tragedy to lose a mother, how is  this connected to a reservation six months out she is not part of? Ok, maybe this is a matter of opinion – maybe his religion requires him to mourne for a year.  I don’t know. The kicker is that the certificate is fake. I checked and it is from a small clinic where he works himself, however the Dr who signed the certificate does not work there! Or even comes up as dr. in search.

I contacted Airbnb and they just said they felt it was legitimate. No explanation of discussion. I understand this is so far out, I will hopefully get another reservation but that’s not the point. 

[Stephanie]

@Robin4 @Ann72 @Cathie19 

Bloomin' heck, I leave you guys for a few hours and come back to this! 

[Cathie19]

But @Stephanie, https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/309923

  @Sarah. in Sayulita, Mexico started it! 👍🏼 😆True!  Not gammon!

[Cathie19]

@Inna22, @Ute42  @Sarah977.

Here’s a word for you all, and maybe I might have some with my egg for breakfast.

Gammon

But: can be used with your cancelling guest....

1. firstly: pig meat product

bacon. flitch, gammon, side pork, beef bacon, Danish bacon, Canadian bacon, breakfast meat, pancetta, side meat*, sowbelly*.

2. to me playing a joke, mucking around, or a falsehood.

So in context :

If you were writing to your guest, or talking to them, you might give them a knowing look of disbelief and say, stop gamin/gammon! You’re gammon me......

He might say “No I’m not! True story!”

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[Jo362]

I'm confused. Why does a guest need a reason to cancel 6 months out?

[Inna22]

@Jo362because I have a strict cancellation policy

[Jo362]

Wow! That's an extreme policy. Is that normal?

[Inna22]

@Jo362 Many hosts have it for various reasons. Airbnb offers even stricter policy option

[Rebecca676]

I'm genuially not trying to be argumentative, I'm just curious as to why you care about a booking 6 months in advance being cancelled? Do you actually charge people for cancelling that far in advance? You have plenty of time to find another reservation so I'm not sure what the issue is here? I'm actually amazed at the time you've spent doing so much investigation into this guest - where he works, what Dr's are listed there etc. It seems a little over the top.

[Inna22]

@Rebecca676 

1. It took less than five minutes. Maybe one. Airbnb spent more than that answering my messages instead of spending the one minute themselves. It looked odd, I was curious. Today you took the time to make this post, maybe read something silly on line, perhaps chatted with a friend about nothing. I decided to look this up. Not everything we do has to be intentional and purposeful, right?
2. As I said in my original post, it is not the cancellation itself, it is the fact that such a blatantly dishonest behavior is allowed and that Airbnb is not upholding its own policy
3. There are many reasons I have a strict cancellation policy (yes I do charge). I do not want to hijack my own thread by starting a discussion about it, I am sure there are plenty of threads on that topic if you are truly curious as to why hosts choose it. I will address just one of them here as it is a direct response to something else you brought up. Booking season for my price/location/size is January-February. Chances of me filling that entire time window and at that price are not that great.

[Ann72]

@Rebecca676 Yes, @Inna22  mentioned the January-February booking season at the very beginning of this thread.