Reviews

[Daniel-And-Revival0]

I had to cancel a reservation 7 days before arrival of a guest after informing airbnb and the guest the reasons thereof. We were informed in December 2016 of a new regulation that compels all airbnb hosts to apply for licences to operate. I already had a reservation by that time we received that notification. I promptly applied for the license in December 2016 but due to the huge demand it took long for the licences to be issued as fast as they could. I then informed my prospective guest that I would be severely punished if I hosted them for a payment without a license and that I would cancel the reservation and offer them free accommodation since they had a confirmed reservation. The guests replied and accepted my offer but airbnb kept mum on the issue. I presumed that since I offered free accommodation and I did not inconvenienced the guests I would not be penalised by airbnb, but no, they did by giving me a negative review. I am very very hurt by that because I was in a catch 22 situation and I opted to forfeit the payment in order to have a clean review on my listing but alas, airbnb did not think so. I am hurtened to see that playing honest does not help!

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Daniel-And-Revival0 - By cancelling, you are held to the host penalties.  https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/i-m-a-host--what-penalties-apply-if-i-need-to-cancel-a-reserv...

By letting the guest stay without payment, you actually are involation of Airbnb's policies and were not covered by them for insurance or otherwise.  You should not ever do this.  Airbnb was not a partner in letting guests stay for free.  

[Daniel-And-Revival0]

@Alice-and-Jeff0 But then if I did not cancel the reservation and let them pay then I was going to be penalised by my government for hosting without a license! Like I said earlier, I wrote to airbnb as well as the guest before finally taking the decision but airbnb did not reply.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

There was another choice - to not host at all.  Airbnb's rules are to not cancel and to not host guests outside the system (which you did).  Your government rules are to not host and take payment without a license.  Looks to me you chose to break Airbnb's rules instead of your government's.  Not sure why you think you shouldn't be penalized as this is a host cancel that does not fit the Extenuating Circumstances rule.  Assuming that you've gotten the necessary license now since you've hosted guests again, if not, you should snooze your listings.

 https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/476/how-do-i-snooze-or-deactivate-my-listing

[Pauline106]

In this situation how could the host deal with the guest and AirBnB and the government to appease the situation? Seems to me that this was an extenuating circumstance. 

I would contact AirBnB to see what they would suggest. I really would like to know what their reply would be.