No, by karma I mean my story. My principles are different than yours and I already said that I’m very lucky that I don’t have to have any conflict. If you don’t worry about it, then don’t. Our situations are not comparable in any way.
Also there could be an outcome of these guest’s cancelling themselve. These short reservations have a tendency of being cancelled more than longer ones. From
The very start I had 4!reservations like these being cancelled and on top of that 1 back charge .
At that point I had really weak faith in this kind of bookings
I am
Not worried . I just don’t understand what it has to do with any principles? What is your principal here I am just trying to understand regarding cancelling?
I just was hosting 2 Russians . They were clueless about everything and I was on a verge of cancelling them but then felt kind of bad . Rent was so high everywhere and I knew I cancelled them they would have to pay probably twice the price.
I didn’t cancell them not because of some principal but because I felt bad for them.
I should have cancell them though. They were the most unpleasant couple . Left me a page long review and gave me 2*. They never read a word of my rules and first night started making steaks .
I still cringe when I think of them. That cancellation would be the best thing for me to do
As a guest I would hate to be cancelled on (funny this just came up on another thread). When I choose an airbnb I spend hours looking for the perfect listing for me (that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, just that it’s the combo of things I want). If I were then cancelled on and had to find another place or airbnb tried to put me in another place I would be mad.
So the principal I’d say is at play is the good old golden rule: I treat others the way I want to be treated. Now if I rented a $40 a night room and the host said, I’ve got to cancel I’ll give you a full refund plus $200 to find another place then I would feel I was being well treated. 
Don’t they give them
As a reward our cancelation fees? I hope they do. Because lots of my guests told me about some coupons Air gives them.
My fees for one only cancelation was 150$
I don’t know, perhaps that is what they do with them.
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Oh wow, I step away for a few hours to do some baking and you gals have been going back and forth with vigor! The topic has muted itself out but I’ll just throw in a couple of comments to clarify…not justify…my position.
You stated: “I don’t want to be accused of sounding high and mighty so I’ll just say that I’m glad I’m not so dependent on the income that I have to sacrifice my principles.”
I’m sure you’re not implying that the only reason one would “sacrifice” their principles is because they are dependent on income - because that is certainly not the case with me. (Trust me.)
It is more accurate to say that I am relaxing my principles based on Yana’s experience and my analysis. I decided it is not always necessary (or prudent) to be so rigid with the first-come, first-served philosophy. It would still be the norm, of course, and it is a more honorable practice but I can see where under certain circumstances, business acumen should be allowed to take precedence.
There are ways to compensate guests holding confirmed reservations and I would definitely look into that aspect. Everyone has a price…in general, of course.
All I’m saying is that now I would entertain the idea of canceling those guests in favor of a more lucrative booking - but I wouldn’t shaft those guests.
After all, I have some principles. … 
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As a guest, I was cancelled 3 times, trying to book a holiday of a lifetime in Manhattan. As a host, I so wanted to use an Airb, but the stress got too much, after those cancellations. We took a hotel, knowing that our long haul holiday would be safe.
It would be an exceptional circumstance for me to cancel someones booking now
Guests think nothing of cancelling on us, and they get all their money back!
I’ve never been cancelled on my own reservation. I’ve never cancelled a guest in favor of a better reservation either and the opportunity came twice years ago. One made a difference of about $1,200 (can’t recall the other) but I sure was vacillating at the time.
After thinking about the ethics and how the guests would be disappointed, etc., I kept the first reservation and said goodbye to the bigger bucks. I figured it would be good karma. Those good deeds didn’t do squat in the good-luck department.
I’ve been kicking myself ever since. … 
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@Barns
A friend decided to book a trip to Atlanta for a ball game via Airbnb because another friend and I are hosts. She booked 6 months in advance. About 3 months in advance her host cancelled a few reservations. She booked a backup plan with a hotel with a liberal cancellation policy for 2X as much and kept her Airbnb reservation.
She contacted Airbnb Customer Service after 3 messages & 1 call to the host were unanswered. CS didn’t help her. The host cancelled her reservation one week prior to her stay. Airbnb CS didn’t/couldn’t help this time because they didn’t have any rental availability (multiple ball games & conventions).
Now she will never use Airbnb again & all hosts are tainted by her experience.
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Last year I had a guest who was touring the main Hawaiian islands. ALL (all) his other hosts had canceled on him (Oahu, Maui and Kauai) during peak high season and he expected me to also!
He was so grateful when he got here and could actually check in!
Except for me he was soured on Airbnb and said he probably would not use it again.
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