host cancellations restricted to 3x a year

[Marianne200]

Hi Community,

I have a worry.
This is the situation:
I offer 2 rooms on Airbnb, with instant booking. I am superhost (I think).
The rooms are rather cheap (compared with the neighbourhood) but there is 1 condition which I am strict about and which is clearly announced in the ad: I will only take 1 person per room. My rooms are not open to 2 persons – they are not even displayed to people booking for 2 travellers.
Nevertheless, because of the low price, it happens now and again that travellers choose to ignore this condition. They use the instant booking option, confirm their booking for 1 person.... and then candidly announce me that they will come with a partner/friend/son etc...
My first reaction is to ask them politely to cancel.
If they do not react, I have no other choice than to cancel them myself.
I then select the option: "My listing does not fit my guest's needs" (Alas, there is no option that matches my case 100%. There should be an option saying "My guest clearly indicated that he/she intends to break my rules")

Here comes my worry: twice already, I was obliged to follow the above described procedure.
Why is it that when doing this, I get the following message :
"you can only cancel consequence-free up 3 times per year if a guest indicates they’ll behave in a way that doesn’t align with our Community Commitment."

I'm wondering: why should the host get any penaly or limitation (up to 3x) when the guest is at fault? Does that mean that if it happens a 4th time in the year, I will be forced to go against my own rules and accept a party of 2 persons? Or pay a penalty ?
Has anyone been in this situation (more than 3 cancellations/year because guests do not follow rules)?
If yes did you get a fine the 4th time?

Thanks for any enlightment about this issue !

Marianne from Brussels

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Marianne200 I was told on an Airbnb Zoom call that the 3x limit applies to you cancelling via the net. They said that cancelling by calling them gives unlimited cancellations in the event the guest plans to break the rules.

I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE but suggest you call them next time and ask them to confirm it is a no fault/penalty cancellation.

[Marianne200]

Thank you, I will certainly do that in the future !

[Huma0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Yes, in theory...

I think I might have been on the same Zoom call as you, as I remember this discussion.

However, in practice, it doesn't always work like that. I don't use IB anymore, but when I did, I would ALWAYS call Airbnb up and ask for a penalty free cancellation. I never once did it automatically online. 

Every time, there was an obvious reason for cancelling, e.g. third party booking, over my guest count, wanting to quarantine here when it is a shared listing and the house rules say NO!, guest not sending a single response to anything after months of chasing, you attempts to call etc. You get the drift.

Every time, CS was happy to cancel for me without penalty, BUT they said that each time counted towards the 3 x penalty free cancellations a year that I was allowed. It didn't matter that I called them first and asked them to do it.

I never went over 3 x cancellations in one year, so I don't know what would have happened if I did (a CS rep just told me to call and then Airbnb would review it) but, towards the end of last year, I was getting so many unsuitable bookings that I knew that 3 x cancellations were not going to be enough. So, I turned off IB earlier this year.

What I couldn't tell from that Zoom call, nor from the announcement made after here on the CC/policy articles whether the 3 x penalty free cancellations a year when you think a guest is going to break your rules/throw a party etc. are now available to ALL hosts or still only those that use IB. There was an indication in the Zoom/wording afterwards that it would now apply to all, but whenever I have asked for clarification on that point, I've been met with silence.