So…. you have found your perfect property and booked it on Airbnb – only to find later that it has been inexplicably cancelled by the host.

This doesn’t happen often, but when it does it can be incredibly frustrating – especially at short notice. If a host cancels for preventable reasons like wanting to host friends instead, or accidentally double booking, you may well lose your confidence in Airbnb.

To counter this, Airbnb has hiked the maximum penalty fee 10-fold, from the previous $100 to $1,000, for certain host-generated cancellations.

“Avoidable host cancellations are not common, but when they do happen, they can have a negative impact on a guest’s experience, as well as the wider hosting community,” an Airbnb spokesperson said. “Following a thorough review of our policy, we have updated our existing fees to better reflect the costs associated with preventable cancellations, including re-booking guests, often at the last minute.”

Airbnb explains the new fee structure and how it will be applied to hosts here.

The actual fee that hosts get charged would range from $50 to $1,000, depending on the amount of the reservation. Hosts would still be able to cancel bookings without penalties for things such as the need to make emergency repairs.

Bottom line

We’ll have to wait and see if this will act as any kind of deterrent on avoidable cancellations in the future. Has anyone had a cancellation which has inconvenienced them on Airbnb or other booking sites? – let us know in the comments below!