We have an airbnb that is in a seasonal location so our summers make it for us. We just had someone inquire about staying from June 30 - July 9th - so over 2 weekends AND the major holiday! In their inquiry they said: “Family reunion for the 4th of July. Need overflow space. Will be in touch by end of May if we need to change or cancel. Need to firm up travel plans” - would you accept this reservation or not? I’m very hesitant to do so bc our currently cancelation policy lets them cancel 30 days out so then we would be out thee money and tight on time for that long of a stretch.
They want to block your calendar for your busiest time of year for the next 6-7 months and possibly cancel 30 days previous to check in? 
Uh,no.
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Nope. As a matter of fact, close your calendar after April 30th. I only keep mine open every 3 months. I’ve found that people cancel if they have 6 or 7 months to think about it.
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And they will be looking for something cheaper while holding the booking with you as back up
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Unless the cancellation policy is strict, that’s exactly what they can do. And if you turn down this person, they could easily have someone else book.
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Thanks for the recommendations. We blocked off our calendar for the summer months and then responded to the person saying sorry we hadn’t opened up summer yet and couldn’t allow 9 prime summer days to be blocked off without our strict summer cancellation policy in place. We plan on updating our cancelation policy come the summer months to make it no refunds. For winter bookings we need to be more flexible since it’s off season. I do wish Airbnb had a way to let you do strict vs firm for different months as you set it as a host.
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preach!!
yes, this is 100% what they are doing. it’s clever, but annoying for us hosts.
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