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Do you remember Fred who used to post here who had the private island? I believe that he had the super-strict. His listing was for the whole of the island (although it wasn’t huge) and guests had to be taken there by boat.
So I imagine that was the ‘special circumstance’.
if you will book up regardless during ski season without ABB, then you are better off not opening those dates with and for ABB. Only give ABB the dates when you need more exposure. And only open those dates 60 days out so the cancel risk is lessened.
There is a super strict 60 day that was offered for larger homes and still exists. They even used to pay out at 60 days in full. Some still get paid at 60 days I think, and some are paid after arrival
I agree that there seems to have been a change since 2018. I changed to “firm”, which I believe has been around for a cpl of years. When I check listing settings for cancellation, there are some options that say “new”, but new since when?! 
The “Special Circumstances” includes stomping your feet and threatening not to list with them. It is applicable for larger homes, or homes managed by PM with an established history of financial solid behavior. It was developed 10 + years ago when homes were hesitant to list on ABB due to the cancel policies that were geared towards a room, and not losing a whole week of $7000 in high season at a beach. Back then it was 60 day 50% and then 100% for all nights. They now only offer the 30 days, that I know of, but still honor the 60 days. If ABB paid out to owner at 60 days they charged the owner an extra 3% vs releasing the funds the day after guest arrival for the standard %
I guess I’m lucky then. I just asked what could be done and they immediately suggested and set me up with the 60-days. We are in a situation such as you’ve described - larger home with seasonal/high periods.
just cruising the ABB forums, there’s a thread in October 2021 discussing the new “Firm” policy.
The main idea behind Super-Strict 60 was for listings that usually required a long advance time to make a reservation work; for example, overseas locations because of passport requirement, etc. The more rare the listings (like a private island) or of an unusual nature, have been invited without even asking.
The ‘privilege’ also was however costing 5% (vs.the regular 3%), and Airbnb payments were executed 60 days before guest arrival, since the guests can’t get a refund after that anyway. This changed in late April 2020, this advance payment feature was dropped considering all bookings at that time were being cancelled, but after Covid Airbnb started charging only 3% to Super-Strict 60 hosts not 5%. And that is how it stands since.
One supposes it could be off-putting with some listings but not with others who are constantly booked way ahead of time, even years. Though that is hard to do nowadays with the new only 1-year ahead booking limitation.
@Reggie Thank you for your input! You’re a guru.
I looked for this, but nothing was mentioned. Appears that I’ll be charged the “going rate” for bookings at 3%. The 60-day advance payment was not mentioned. I’m fine with that.
Aye, you will be charge only 3% so really is really all a plus to your hosting. People do not get too inventive till about 30 days before arrival, and by then their choices are quite limited.
I didn’t mean yes or I would have said yes 
No (there is a updated version of the guidance)
It also changed last year.
Sorry it wasn’t clear for you.
You haven’t yet made it clear.
What does the ‘no’ refer to? No what?
Nothing I wrote suggested that there were no further changes after 2018.
I note that you do not say what the post-2018 changes were and how they are relevant to the OP concern that a 50% refund applies if the cancellation occurred 7-14 days before check-in.
So @Helsi , I ask again ‘No . . . what??’
I’m sorry this isn’t clear to you still.
Huh? I don’t usually open more than a year in advance, but I didn’t know it was prohibited.
@Reggie is a fount of knowledge. 
Appears to be prohibited now because none of my guests can do so nowadays unlike the past. The host calendar shows 3 years open but the guests keep saying they can only book 1 year in advance.
A strange trap existed before, the distant future dates defaulted to the base price as they became available 3 years in advance, so guests were booking 2-3 years in advance at the ‘old’ price, maybe that is why it was changed.
That makes sense. Do you know if a Special Offer can be sent so guests can book?
As costs of hosting go up I normally get a couple of bookings at lower than expected rates before I remember to make price changes for advance bookings.
Interesting question, their web site has a glitch (at times) where when you try to send a reservation adjustment (or special offer) it doesn’t allow for either to be ‘Send’, and they say they are working on it. What I been doing is doing the adjustment via a money request for ‘extra services’. Goofy, granted but rather square all money issues before guests arrive.
When our apartment was being managed by an agent, she recommended the strict cancellation policy. We took over from her last month and even though she was a superhost, and we only had a handful of reviews as guests, we’ve seen more bookings than under the agent. That’s the opposite of what I had expected would happen when we took over! We didn’t lower the price. The one difference I can see (other than her superhost status) is that we chose a moderate cancellation policy. So that seems to be bringing us more bookings, and so far, we haven’t had any cancellations. Only time will tell but so far I’m not regretting it!
I’ve always used the moderate policy and it works fine for me. I live in a location which is a touristy beach town, and almost all of my guests fly here. Because they have flights booked, vacation days booked off work, etc., cancelling close to check-in day just isn’t something that is at all likely to happen.
And as I just list a private room/bath in my home and don’t depend on the income, it’s not a big deal to me if the room isn’t booked all the time.
I wouldn’t want to have to field the inevitable full refund requests from guests who book under the strict policy, cancel, and are then outraged that the host sticks to the cancellation policy they agreed to when they booked.
It’s exactly what I would have expected to happen as you would have got a boost when you took the listing over under your profile @lisanddavid
Guests don’t tend to check cancellation policies so not sure you can attribute to a change in the cancellation policy @lisanddavid