Subject: Need Help: Charged Cancellation Fee After Rebooking Despite Airbnb’s Blocked-Date Policy

[Samantha1603]

Post:

Hi fellow hosts,

I’m hoping someone here or a Community Manager can help me understand how to escalate this issue, because I’m feeling really stuck.

Here’s the situation:

I had a booking for Derek, which I cancelled due to an error. During my call with Airbnb Support, I was told that the dates associated with his reservation would be automatically blocked to prevent another booking from being made for those same days—as per Airbnb’s policy on host cancellations.

Two days later, another guest (Stephanie) was somehow able to book those exact same dates. Because I was sick I did not see it for 6 hours I phioned and asked to cancel as it was supposed to be blocked as my penalty and now I’m being charged $293.20 and facing penalties, despite being told those dates should have been locked out.

I’ve explained all of this to the Ambassador assigned to my case, but they keep repeating that I need to provide “evidence” without telling me what qualifies as acceptable evidence. I’ve offered the reservation timeline, calendar screenshots, and explained that the platform was supposed to block those dates after the first cancellation.

To be clear, the issue is not the cancellation itself—it’s that I was told the calendar would be blocked, and it wasn’t, which led directly to the second booking.

I’ve asked for this to be escalated to a supervisor or case manager, but I’m not getting anywhere.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? And does anyone know the best way to escalate when you're stuck in a support loop?

Any guidance or Airbnb team support would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Samantha Fielding
 Casa AYA

[Marie8425]

@Samantha1603 

I am sorry I have not heard of this before.  Doesn't mean you aren't the tragic first.

Gather the following.

The cancelled reservation, it specifies dates effected and Host cancelled.

Airbnb Help Documentation that states blocking of dates i Host cancels.

The 2nd resrvation received

Confirm dates are the same on both reservations.

Ask how did it occur?  How were the dates unblocked?

[Shelley159]

@Samantha1603 to me it sounds like the first support agent didn't process it as a host cancellation, because you didn't get a fine the first round and the dates were open. Perhaps they were trying to resolve the issue in your favour, but it then unfortunately turned into a repeat of the same problem when the second guest booked.

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Samantha1603 

It’s likely that with the first cancellation, you were granted a penalty-free cancellation but the dates weren’t automatically blocked. However, if customer support told you the dates would be blocked, do you have that in writing? If so, take a screenshot of the conversation and send it to Airbnb support for review.

[Emilie]

Hi @Samantha1603, 

I'm sorry you ran into some challenges with this cancellation recently. Have you managed to find a solution since your post here, talking further with the Support team?

I hope the input from Marie, Shelley and Patricia helped, and please let us know how you are getting on 🙂

Emilie