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Thanks for the template. Some good suggestions in there which I can use. At present, we are still trying to ascertain exactly how bad the damage actually is. We can afford to wait a day or two more for the flood water to go down, and also to see if AirBnB responds.
It seems this issue has them completely stumped 
I agree. Seems there is another reason the host wanted to cancel. ABNB saw through it.
Our only reason was that we wanted to ensure the guest safety. The guest understood that, and agrees our decision was the correct one, even if AirBnB doesnât.
Mmmm, I usually let posters defend themselves (or not if they choose to ignore), butâŚ.
(1) @JohnnyLounge21 suggested it became unnecessarily complicated vs suggesting the OP is hiding something (correct me if Iâm wrong @JohnnyLounge21)
(2) we all take our share of mean or callous comments but this was out of line, in my book, to accuse the OP like this when they were just trying to do the right thing, andâŚ
@rossh is right here on the thread. No need to speak about them as if they canât âhearâ you.
??? Pretty rude thing to say. They were trying to make sure the guests didnât die going over a bridge that might have collapsed. Canât imagine a host actually caring, or what?
That is not quite true. This is precisely why there is an âExtenuating Circumstancesâ policy - which we believed would cover this event. The key here is what is considered âforseeableâ (this is the term used in the policy). Yes, rain is âforseeableâ. Even road closures due to tree falls or flooding are âforseeableâ, and we have had those in the past and lived with them. We knew such things would not be covered. But washing out a bridge that has been fine for 40 years? How on earth could that be considered âforseeableâ?
Our mistake - assuming we made one - was in not checking in advance whether the specific circumstances would be considered âextenuatingâ before we agreed to cancel. We will certainly not do that again, so lesson learned there!
However, I think AirBnB is being overly pedantic in refusing to waive the penalties. And they are now being unhelpful by not advising what we should do in similar circumstances in future. It seems to me this may be because they are having trouble coming up with a sensible suggestion. Any suggestion from AirBnB that implies that guest safety is not a hostâs responsibility is not really tenable, is it?
Probably should clarify - this is not âourâ bridge, and we are not in any way responsible for it. It is part of the public road to our property and I think we are entitled to assume it is in good repair and is not going to get washed out in what was a fairly ordinary rain event.
âAirbnbâ isnât actually doing anything. Itâs their clueless reps who canât figure out that extreme flooding is an emergency situation and that if a hostâs property is unable to be accessed, and guests would be putting their lives in danger by trying to get there, thatâs the definition of an extenuating circumstance.
And if the guests had indeed had a terrible accident trying to get there and told Airbnb that the host didnât warn them about the conditions, Airbnb would probably delist the host due to âsafety violationsâ.
I donât think itâs true that hosts have to avoid canceling under any circumstances. Iâve cancelled in the past for a much less pressing reason, and penalties were waived (other than blocking the dates, which was fine).
Maybe there were other ways to handle this, but in the heat of the moment a person just needs to make a decision.
@rossh what was your penalty?
What? The hostâs place isnât unusable or unhabitable, it was just inaccessible for awhile.
You sure come up with some weird ideas. And yet more exclamation marks.
So far, only the one booking has been affected, so it will just be US$100 and losing Superhost status. This hurts our pride a bit, but is not really a big deal. We know from experience that Superhost status makes almost no difference to our bookings - as you may have gathered, our accommodation is fairly unique.
But if we cancel any more bookings, AirBnB can throw us off the site. We could live with losing all our current bookings - we have had lean years before - but getting thrown off permanently would hurt.
It is awful that AirBnB makes us choose between the security of our guests and the security of our livelihood, but I guess thatâs just the way it is 
Same. Weâre not hotels (a least Iâm not!) with lots of people or rooms/rentals to plug and play to keep things aloft. 
happens.
Canceling isnât to be done lightly, but itâs necessary at times. And safety, guest and host, is not a âlightâ reason.
Forgive me is this has been mentioned, but capture all of your future guest information asap. Names, contact info, etc.
You sound like the kind of booming business that could thrive with a direct booking website. I donât have one (yet) but thinking it over. Hopefully youâre also on at least one other platform as well.
Curious, @rossh, do you use instant booking (IB)? Was this cancelled guest an IB?
No. We tried IB, but gave up on it after a few (actually, a lot) of problem IB bookings. Now we vet our guests quite carefully. Over the years we have learned how to spot potential problems, and very few now get through. Seems to be worth the extra effort.
Why do you think that? Airbnb loves to threaten hosts, but Iâve seen review pages with lots of âThe host cancelled this reservation XX days before check-inâ.
I think if you pursue getting the cancellation penalties removed for this, it will at some point be reversed. Lots of decisions get overturned if the host is persistent. Eventually it lands on someoneâs desk who has a brain in their head.
The good thing is that youâre not in some crazed distraught state about it or horrified at losing your Superhost status, which will enable you to pursue it patiently, if you cared to. As opposed to hosts who have a big freak out and yell in all caps about it on the Airbnb community forum, saying theyâve been calling Airbnb 3 times a day for 2 weeks, letting whatever issue they have take over their lives.
Patience, persistence and politeness seem to be the key to getting through Airbnb CS. And lucking out with who you deal with there. It doesnât always work, but it often does. It could take weeks or months, though.
It is specified as one of the penalties for hosts cancelling three or more bookings in a year. How do you think we would go if we had to cancel a few dozen? Still waiting on AirBnBâs advice of what to do should the need arise to do this, but I now somehow doubt they will be offering us any suggestions at all. They canât really say âYou have to cancel and pay us $100 bucks each time ⌠ka-ching! âŚâ can they? Even though this is probably what they would like to say?
Oh, for sure Iâm not suggesting you just keep cancelling bookings. Obviously you have to come up with a different plan if your place remains for awhile, or becomes again, inaccessible.
Maybe let future guests know when they book about this and tell them to call you before heading out to make sure they can get through.
@rossh Muddy is totally right. I had a situation that took 2 years, but it worked out just as she describes.
I truly donât think you need to await advice from ABB (and if you get it, take screenshots!). To avoid the â3 cancellations per yearâ thing call ABB and have them initiate the cancellation. Send a pic of the bridge if needed. It wonât count against your 3 cancellations.
The biggest takeaway here is YOU donât cancel yourself. Yes, you can ask the guest to do it if ABB wonât (& do that if you must!) but it puts them in a situation w/ the ABB fees, which I hate doing to my guests. Usually they can get them back if you auth a full refund.
I was looking up Airbnb policy for a post on another thread and came across this statement about cancelling without penalty:
âIf a host cannot fulfill a reservation because of an extenuating circumstance or similar conditions beyond their control, it is their responsibility (and not the guestâs) to cancel in a timely manner to allow their guest time to adjust their plans.â
I have as many slices of humble pie as are required for the posters who essentially criticised the OP for doing the right thing.
JF
Well spotted. It also says âIf the check-in time is within 24 hours, the option to cancel online for these reasons wonât be availableâyouâll need to contact us.â Which is exactly what we did. I have added this quote to the support thread.
AirBnB has still not responded.