Guest canceled in morning before check in, but can still leave review

I was unaware of the Airbnb policy of allowing guests who canceled before check in to leave a review. I have a moderate cancellation policy and had a guest cancel yesterday morning with afternoon check in because “some of the people we were going to travel with aren’t feeling well and due to Covid I don’t want to take any chances” Is this to pressure hosts to have flexible cancellation policies so the guest will have nothing to complain about?

It doesn’t matter what cancellation policy a host has, Airbnb allows guests to leave a review if they cancel day-of check-in or I think within 24 hours of it.

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Anecdotally, this appears to be the criteria.

The good news is, if they didn’t actually check in, any review that mentions facilities etc can be removed.

JF

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Yes, if either host or guest cancels less than 24 hours before check-in, then both host and guest can leave a review for the other (even though it makes little sense).

With moderate cancellation policy, if a guest cancels the day of check-in, the guest can receive only a 50% refund on reservation for all days after the 1st day (which is non-refundable). What is the concern? Is the guest asking for more than that?

I’m not quite sure what this question means exactly?

I’ve only had Airbnb cancellations a few times but I’ve found that the reviews have been great. Guests tend to love the fact that they’ve been able to cancel without any fuss - almost as though they were expecting a hard time. When they find that their host is gracious about the cancellation, the reviews tend to reflect that.

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You have been lucky with your cancellations. I have found guests frequently are unhappy that they will not be refunded fully due to my moderate cancellation policy. Because I was unaware that guests who canceled within 24 hours before checking in were allowed to leave a review, I was concerned that she may write a poor review, having no actual knowledge of my place, just because she is not receiving a full refund, and was therefore wondering if this Airbnb policy was in place to try and pressure hosts into only having flexible cancellation policies. I threw out this possibility to see what other hosts thought.

Well, I wouldn’t say lucky but never mind that.

Is there any reason why she should leave a bad review? As @JohnF said above, if she is scathing about your place or your facilities, those are good grounds for getting the review removed as she never set foot in the place.

When a guest contacts you about a refund, explain to them that you don’t have their money, Airbnb does. Therefore the guest has to take it up with them. So as long as you’re okay with the guest, then there’s no reason for her to review you negatively.

I really wouldn’t have thought so. Why offer strict and moderate if that was the case? They could simply not give us the choice and do without them if they wanted everyone to be on flexible.

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Frequently?

Why do so many folks cancel on you?

Are you in some sort of Covid hot-spot?

JF

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The OP has discussed the moderate policy and its refunds already. Here:

No, very few do, but when they do, I normally find they ask for a full refund despite my moderate cancellation policy. Once before a guest was given the opportunity to review before entering my property but on that occasion she was outside my house and decided there was not enough lighting. I guess this is a similar circumstance, and I will just have to be more aware of this policy, and not worry too much. Thanks for the input.

Thank you for your suggestion:
“When a guest contacts you about a refund, explain to them that you don’t have their money, Airbnb does. Therefore the guest has to take it up with them. So as long as you’re okay with the guest, then there’s no reason for her to review you negatively.”
I had not thought of doing that before, and that is a good idea.

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That sounds like a good idea Tricia. Or alternatively, what I always do (I’m hosting online experiences) is let them know they are welcome to attend without charge on an alternative date then leave it to them to make contact.