Yes. … according to things I’ve read. I can’t verify as I’ve never used strict.
You misunderstand my point; which is you can’t attribute things purely down to the cancellation policy you use, as there are many other factor impacting on your cancellation policy @NE10
I believed that, too, because I read it all over. Then I started studying my market and noticed that every single comparable listing nearby has a strict policy. I changed very early on, after about 2 months of being listed and didn’t see any change. There is no more advantageous option for the algorithm to push higher. So … “it depends”.
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The reason I chose Moderate over Flexible is to filter people out who don’t know what they want/are flakey/entitled/etc.
The reason I chose Moderate over Strict is because “shit happens” and I think it’s more fair to people when they have had to cancel less than 5 days out. Ultimately we end up splitting the money and I like the sense of balance and harmony in that. I have told guests my viewpoint on this when they are losing some money and I think it made sense to them too. Because Airbnb always totally throws me under the bus and tells the guests to contact me because I can approve a full refund. When they tell me they can’t come but it’s not an EC then I tell them that for occasions like this, that’s why my policy is moderate - because I wouldn’t want to take all of their money because life is unpredictable and that I understand that. Sometimes Airbnb still hassles me to give more money and I can’t help but wonder if it was a Strict policy, if I could then just offer 50% back and be done with it though.
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I see. Yes. It’s true that there are multiple issues attributed to occupancy and ratings. You could call it more of a gut feeling based on the small amount of experience I’ve had so far.
That seems like a lot of cancellations to me, FWIW.
Here’s the famous list I’d seen that lists it as a factor. Low correlation but not “no correlation.”
It can also impact in the sense that if I always book places with flexible policy then when I search Airbnb will put places with flexible policy higher than those with strict. Again this is according to what I’ve read about how every result is different. @LoneStar, every market, every host, every guest. So your results may vary from what you’ve read.
What is not in doubt is that Airbnb favors hosts who are the most guest friendly. So I’ll go back to what I said: if you are getting all the business you want, fine. Don’t change. If you aren’t and you use strict policy it might be hurting you getting bookings. No way it can be helping. No guest is going to prefer a host with strict policy.
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Nothing precludes this. You can also keep it set to strict, but refund once you collect from a replacement booking.
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#3 Listing Word Count - ?
Is a lengthier description more likely to appear higher in the search rankings? Or a shorter one?
I just meant, to get Airbnb off my back when a whiny guest cancels too late.
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I don’t recall. Search rank used to be talked about a lot here but now it’s been awhile. Just a WAG is that longer is better than shorter but too long can be bad. I’ve seen listings that literally had nothing but the Airbnb suggested text; no personalization at all.
And here we go down the off topic rabbit hole…Sorry @NE10
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I have been considering changing my policy to Moderate. I can’t use Strict because then I wouldn’t be eligible for the Work Collection or IB…both of which have brought me considerable business.
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I’ve had guests who forget about their booking and then after the booking starts ask to cancel with a full refund. That’s actually one good thing about flexible is that they literally have no excuse, and that happens at least a couple times per year.
I was searching for one recently and found a host who really takes the whole “guests don’t read” very seriously. There is nothing written. No words in any fields under the listing description except the title.
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It’s okay. I got to vent my guest grievance. 
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I really think it’s possible your flexible policy is attracting guests who cancel. I’ve always had a Moderate policy and it’s never hurt my search rankings, so it may be the happy medium.
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In my research, I found that it’s best to have more words. Specifically in the title and listing description. Everything I’ve come across says to use all of the word count. But I don’t have anything to compare to either, so don’t know for sure.
I hope so – I don’t know how to write a brief description. 
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This really points to someone who booked carelessly, because they could - with the minimum commitment for the flexible policy.