Bogus AirBNB Cancellations

[Jason Collins]

Just had an AirBNB guest cancel after day 3 of a 30 day booking (we always use strict cancellation policy) because he said he drove by a grocery store 3 blocks away and saw ‘homeless people doing drugs.’

The guest called AirBNB and pressured us to lift the strict policy and allow them to cancel for ‘the safety of their family.’

A few months ago we had a guest cancel early because they ‘saw someone in the yard at night.’ They did not file a police report and didn’t notify us until the next afternoon.

Our rentals are all in middle class neighborhoods and have 4.9 stars or above with super host status.

My concern is that guests are changing their vacation plans and make up excuses to get out of paying.

Normally, we would not refund their money unless they document the encounter with us immediately or file a police report, but they always go through AirBNB support in a non urgent time frame.

Is there a way to enforce our cancellation policies without getting a scathing 1 star review from the guest claiming we forced them to stay in unsafe conditions? Thoughts?