Its far, 5 weeks from now.
No. You have a binding contract with the guest. If you breach that, there are consequences. I would not cancel on a guest unless there are dire circumstances. Even then accept that there will be a penalty, as the guests – who clearly likes to have things settled in advance – will be forced to find other accommodations.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, which you need to prove, you will be penalised. And even if you prove that, it’s likely that your calendar will be blocked out for the dates in question
If you do it one time, it’s not that big of a deal. There’s no fine, just the date is blocked and you won’t get suprerhost. I canceled on a 1 night guest who made a last minute booking and I didn’t feel too bad about it. There are lots of units in my neighborhood and I saw where she eventually stayed which is a few blocks away from me and was maybe $20 more (and I think AirBNB often gives them a small discount code to compensate).
we had terrible weather here, a lot of rain, and the electric system is not safe anymore. i already turned off the listing, because it needs a bigger upgrade. only one booking remained, in october, this is the problem.