Of course it is. 
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And Air backing the host:
Jossana S, Jan 12, 08:53 PST:
Hi ,
This is Jossana, your case manager here on Airbnb and the one you have spoke with today.
I am messaging you right now to give you a brief recap of what we have discussed on phone. You called us, to cancel the reservation for Michael B. (Dates: Jan 13, 20 to Jan 15, 20), due to your guest was not able to read that there is a cat in your listing, and was stating that he is allergic to cats, that make you feel uncomfortable to accommodate him, because of the reliability that if something might happen to the guest due to cat allergy, it will end up blaming you as a host, which in fact it was the guest who did not read the listing description of what to expect in the first place.
What I did was, I did cancel the reservation and make sure that all the penalties are being voided to this, as for me you indeed deserved it.
As much as possible, I wanted to secure your Superhost status, and I want that to be preserved, as I know how you work hard to gain that.
I was also able to re opened your dates for future guests and was able to process the full refund to the guest.
Everything is now okay. I hope that I was able to assist you in my very best. You know that Airbnb is always here to back you up as we indeed value you as our Superhost. Without your efforts, Airbnb won’t be known worldwide, so we are really thankful to have you here on our platform.
Thank you for your cooperation, patience and time, .
Have a good day ahead.
Cheers,
Jossana
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I suggest redacting the full name of the guest since he would find your posts if he were to do a google search for his name.
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Since a few months we are giving guests the option of a non-reimbursable rate (= 10% discount). And yes, already a few times guests choosing this option have caused me stress and made me wish they could just cancel… but then what is the point of offering the non-reimbursable rate, no?
On two occasions we canceled and reimbursed nonetheless 
. With one higher value booking I didn’t give in, but we did decide to pamper those guests a little extra. In the end their review was very good 
.
Also at the very moment we have a ‘high risk’ guest staying. That is a high risk in the sense of a higher than normal probability of a bad review, due to guests wanting to cancel after having booked the discounted rate. This time it was because ‘maybe their flight wouldn’t leave that day… blahblahblah’. I told them that AirBnB handles all reimbursements and played dumb by stating them the conditions for reimbursement in case of the full rate (=flexible). Their flight left on time but they arrived hours late 
.
It seems like it are exactly guests who choose the discounted rate, that cause most trouble. We will see how this year goes to decide wether we will keep offering it. (The reason I’m still holding on to it is the fact that I kind of like other guests paying a premium for the possibility to cancel 
.)
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I didn’t understand that either. I’ve got a sense of humour ( I really hope that’s true) but I don’t see why it’s funny. Now the cat owning the house is another matter - I am always grateful to my cat that he allows us to live here.
But really it’s always best in messages to be as careful as possible because not every guest has American (or English or Australian etc.) as their native language. Even people living in the same country might not be native speakers. And as an English person living in the States I can still misunderstand Americans and they often misunderstand me, after all these years.
Bear in mind too that it’s a good idea too because if Airbnb becomes involved and look at a message thread between host and guest, they too need to be able to understand it. And not all CS reps are native speakers after all.
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Haha, so true! I thank my cat every day for not kicking me out on the street. She’s the watch cat and keeps the place safe from her throne on the couch.
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So funny you should say that. My other half and I were saying just one minute ago how our cat is sitting on the sofa in that sort of looks-like-a-hairy-oven-ready-chicken pose, looking out of the window and ‘protecting’ us. 
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Mine looks like a duck with the way she folds her arms under her body. 
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I so miss my watch -cat! He would sit on the couch back looking out the window until my OH got home and than ran to greet him. I thought I was the only one to call that behaviour a watch-cat! He would also chase toys and catch treats in his paws when we tossed them. Died over a year ago and still greiving. 15 yo FIV+ so grateful we had such a long run with him. (Sorry to go so far off-thread - touched my heart!)
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I really like your welcome message! You slip in the cat numerous times, while also being warm/funny enough to offset the house rules/ID requests, which I feel can always feel so sterile and demanding.
And thanks for sharing about the outcome - that’s a great response from Air!
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I was congratulating him on the purchase of a sailboat. I’m also a sailor and I sail out of the place where he’s buying the boat. I was actually looking forward to meeting them until “I have a reaction.” It all seemed a bit scammy after that.
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I’m so sorry for your loss. =^.^= they steal our hearts…
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Thank you for the compliment on my welcome message! (There may have been wine involved when creating it…)
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