Those pesky cancellation policies

[Ann72]

Guest Instant Booked for three days in July, thus accepting my strict cancellation policy. This week they altered their reservation to three days in August, and an hour later cancelled, saying they had to go out of the country.  I got an email saying they had been refunded 50%.

Two days later Airbnb emailed me and asked me to refund the rest, asking me to reconsider my decision, "in the spirit of Airbnb."

I took a page from "Casablanca" and wrote back:  "I'm shocked that a representative of Airbnb would ask me to break the Terms of Service in this manner. It flies in the face of the mutual respect that is at the heart of the spirit of Airbnb."

Airbnb replied that bypassing my strict cancellation policy would be "an act of goodwill."  And I replied that I had given my answer and was not interested in discussing the matter further.  Their response:  "I understand.  Please consider this case closed.  Have a nice day!"

First, let me just say that I've happily refunded guests fully when they've made a mistake or couldn't come because of a blizzard or something.  But I didn't like the guests' attempt to game the system by altering and then cancelling.  They clearly thought that if they changed the date and cancelled within 48 hours, they would get a full refund.  But the refund policy was linked to the original booking date.

Second, I CAN'T EVEN with the guilting and the pressure to circumvent the policy!!!  Suggesting that I show goodwill toward guests who tried to game me is just not on!

Nevertheless, would you believe I woke up in the middle of the night and thought, "I should give the money back"?

Somebody please talk me back from the ledge.

[Long10]

most of guests don't come back.  So there's no need to break your own rule.  Once they agree to strict cancellation, they have to understand that we have a contract between 3 parties, Host, Airb&b, and Guests.  I don't want people to book it, if they're not sure about.  Some guests asked me before about my strict policy, & I told them "please don't book it if you're not sure.  Make sure that you will able to come, before you book it".

In fact, I even ask them to look around first to find the price they afford before making commitment.  I will NOT agree to refund the money once it's only a couple days before their booked dates.  Otherwise, what good does it for having a strict cancellation option, if we can't abind to the rule?

[Amy-and-Henry0]

Strict Cancelation Policy

Where do I begin? Prior to confirming a booking, guests are advised to review the policy. I'm not here to rob anyone, I am here to do business and leave guests feeling like they had an awesome stay.

I recently had a guest cancel and was very pleasent 'asking what the cancelation policy was and that they are happy to book at a later date'. I explained the policy, gave options: rebook (which I really didn't want), refund (should another guest book the same dates), or follow policy 50% refund. Then became pissed off about the cancelation policy. The guest screenshotted the policy, circled it and said it was misleading. I then broke it down into sentences using the same verbage and the guest was unhappy. This guest ranted, told me all the things I should do to market to other guests, informed me of the  lessons I should take from this expierence and that ultimately I should just give the money back.

Perhaps Airbnb should prompt guests before confirming a booking to give them an opportunity to decide as there's a lot of time in the back and forth when ultimately a guest like this only wanted (and would stop) if they got a full refund.  I am reasonable with reasonable guests who are being genuine and I kept saying, I'll refund if another guest books same days....that's going beyond the policy and we don't have to do that.

Something to consider Airbnb.