Booking.com have owed me money for 4months for a 2 weeks stay. It is still pending. When they eventually pay, there will be no interest accrued. They are not much different from AirBnB.
Both companies are STRICTLY about the money.
Facts only!!
So? This is “just business”. It is not intentionally screwing people over. It is not mis-representing or taking money without providing value. It is not lying, cheating, stealing, etc.
The waters have already been “muddy’d enough”! 
That same “muddy logic” would also equate to “it is immoral, unethical and sexist to not allow couples to book a one BR stay”. But we can’t go there - because in that instance it is “how a host chooses to manage their business”, right?
Consider …
Who knows how long it would take for the property to sell? Why should an owner potentially lose many months of revenue, just because a person (not society, not our legal system) thinks they should? Some people are clearly more interested in stirring up 'net drama and would not do it when it is their money at stake.
Selling a property that is also a viable rental, regardless of STR or LTR also means that part of the potential value to the buyer is a proven revenue rental stream. So, putting it on the market and taking it off bnb is against a logical business plan.
The only minor failing is that “it wasn’t a great idea” to offer a 3 day stay. Make it air’s problem and not worry about it.
Time to pull an Elsa and everyone should “let it go”. Gotta wipe the muddy off …
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I’d be pissed too if I were her. I wouldn’t have liked to spend 3 nights in one place and then to find myself and extra night someplace else. You either offered her a 4 night stay or let CS handle it.
My opinion is that your solution was no good.
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You never really answered my question. Asked in a different way: If you’d had to pay a penalty for breaking all those contracts (usually it’s $1-300/instance), would you have booked so far into the future?
Your choices put all the repercussions of cancelling on the guests. You used a policy that’s for unforeseeable circumstances. This was 100% foreseeable.
Not all capitalists are ethically deficient. You’re just using that as an excuse.
Most of us wouldn’t have done what you did and you don’t like that feedback. Go sort your emotions and do better for people next time.
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My comment above re posting for opinions was not directed at you, as you can see there was no tag or response arrow- it was a general comment.
And I suggest you go back and reread your responses to others who didn’t agree that your handling of this situation was correct. All of your responses gave reasons why you believe your actions should be seen as correct. Not once have you thanked anyone for taking the time to give their opinion, which you initially solicited, nor said that you can see why someone who disagreed had that point of view, or that you had never considered it that way. Which other hosts often do, even if the opinion is one that is in disagreement with their handling of a situation.
So, it isn’t bad enough that he is “unethical”. Now, he is also guilty of not complying with your personal views of proper forum etiquette?
We are still waiting for you to justify it is not “unethical, immoral and sexist” - that you do not allow couples to use your “single only room stay”.
Why is your behavior “just running your business as you see fit”? Why is it that only others are immoral and unethical?
Please understand my point.
I’m not saying that they should’ve kept the place vacant because there was a hint of sale. I’m just saying why book 2+ months out?
When guests feel like they can’t trust their bookings on Airbnb, that’s a problem for all of us.
STR was a perfect stop-gap for OP’s friends as they sorted what to do with their place. Use it as just that: don’t overextend the booking period. And don’t act like some guest left without accommodation is supposed to kiss your ring for the offer of 3/4 her lodging.
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It isn’t my personal view of proper forum etiquette. It was an observation of the various ways that hosts respond to opinions.
Who’s waiting? As far as I’m aware, you are the only one who asked such an off-point and absurd question. Obviously a couple wouldn’t be comfortable in a single bed, which is the largest bed that room could accommodate. As a matter of fact, I had a young woman new to Airbnb who didn’t realize she couldn’t have more people stay than the accomodation states, and sprang her boyfriend on me the second day. I didn’t cancel her or tell her he had to leave, I let them both stay, as they were young and happy to squish together in the single bed. And I host an equal number of male and female guests, so try your sexist accusation somewhere else.
The issue of ethics was related to when it’s appropriate to cancel on guests and what alternatives they should be offered, not how any host chooses to set up their listing.
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Different areas vary. Where we live, a 3 month open calendar is reasonable. I see your point -in other places, it might be common for a property to sell in days.
For example, in our area single family homes are listed on average for 60-80 days. Then go to contract. Then, another 40-50 days to settlement (if financing). A cash deal would usually take 10-15 days here (inspection contingency on contract and title search).
So, where we live (for the most part), a 3 month window is reasonable. My 2 cents.
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Hey … I’m not the one who called the host “unethical”, then deflects everything else.
Then, you decide to admonish the OP for not complying with your personal view of proper forum behavior. And that must be “ok”, because you think it is. No one else is jumping on that (looking up the language) “off-point and absurd” viewpoint.
The only other person who was personally insulting to the OP apologized for doing so.
“Only room for a twin”? Really? Assuming stay in USA, unless it’s a very unusual old grandfathered situation, a bedroom by code requires a room that would be big enough for a full.
Actually, it was intentional. They knew eventually they would have to cancel people when the house sold, they just didn’t know which set of people they would have to cancel. That is the issue with allowing people to book that far ahead. If the minimum escrow is 30 days, book out 30 days. When the house goes into escrow don’t accept any more requests. It’s pretty simple.
If I’m booking 2 or 3 months out it’s because it is important to me to have accommodations in that place at that time. If I felt there would be lots of acceptable alternatives two weeks out I would wait and book two weeks out. That’s why this is bad. The owners and property manager knew when they accepted the booking that the place could sell out from under their guests, who were relying on these accommodations.
If they said in the listing “this property is for sale, if it sells before your stay we will be cancelling” it would give the guests the decision to gamble on what they might think of as a good deal. Instead the owner and property manager were gambling with guests’ vacation without their knowledge.
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You know what they say about presuming things.
I have been a guest, I am browsing here for potentially considering hosting in the future.
I am appalled by the behavior and excuses of BlaQMarbleHost, it gives all hosts a black eye, and airbnb allowing it without penalty makes me not wanting to use it anymore. The correct thing would have been disclosing the potential sale in the listing, but then no one would have booked, why would they. BlaQMarbleHost primary motivation was to make money, to hell with the truth.
Now I see a listing, I am wondering what is the owner not disclosing? I want to applaud those owners who rightfully denounced this kind of behavior.
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Canada then? So min BR is 7 x 7 ft. Betcha it’s bigger than that … 
Dear Aunt May,
Your concerns are noted.
Seeing as your primary motivation for becoming an AirBnB host is to start a charity, I applaud you.
Next!!!
Nope, guess again. And it’s about 9’x5.5’ with another small section that’s large enough for a long countertop and to walk through to the private bathroom. The room is neither rectangular nor square.
I see lots of people saying my main motivation is money!
It’s laughable because first of all, everyone who decides to host on AirBnB does it for the money PRIMARILY. No one goes into hosting saying ‘I want to heal the world’ or ‘I want to build a charity’. We are all in this for the money. FACT! Romanticize it all you want it’s true.
That’s where you’re wrong. Certainly everyone does it because it’s nice to earn some money, if we weren’t we’d just list on couch surfing. But many hosts do it for a conglomeration of reasons, the money is not always THE PRIMARY factor. You can’t think of any other reasons than “I want to heal the world” or " I want to build a charity"?
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Eventually … kinda key there. They did not take bookings with the knowledge that it would “not be available at that time”, or even “is likely to not be available”. They had no idea if it would sit on the market for months and when an eventual closing might occur.
What if part of the strategy is selling an active STR rental, with a proven track record?
We may all make different business decisions about “what we will do when it our money on the line”. We can and will differ on that. My point is it is not fair to call the OP “unethical”. That is over the line. The guests were made whole and rebooked one way or another. The host went above and beyond to try and handle that personally, instead of “just making it airbnb’s problem”.
But - if these were Direct Bookings instead of using a massive booking engine, I might agree that this would be less than forthright and pushes a boundary.
Air can earn their keep by re-booking guests. It is literally part of their entire business model, when they aren’t busy screwing over hosts.
I view that as a business decision for the host to make. The host also had to gamble on what revenue they would miss if they did not take bookings - with a nebulous future date of sale.
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Well if you don’t wish to be forthcoming … so be it. Or … state your country and let’s see what the code is 
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