Okay I totally get that. The way it was stated didn't read as clearly as the statement you just made. I saw in another comment that you said you're fixing it.

Okay I totally get that. The way it was stated didn't read as clearly as the statement you just made. I saw in another comment that you said you're fixing it. Thanks! I agree that it's not very kind to have the cancellation policy so asymmetric. According to this link (https://www.airbnb.com/help/question/63 https://www.airbnb.com/help/question/63) AirBnB charges the host 3% to book, probably no matter what. So it sounds like what they're doing is taking the money that they charged the host and giving it to you. That's nice of them, really. But as you've said it in no way deters a host from accepting a better offer. I'd be interested to know how you would split the balance instead. Charge hosts a 15% cancellation fee? 50%? I get where you're coming from but I always understood AirBnB to be a part of the "surplus" economy; I can sell a bit of my surplus space for a bit of extra cash. Not a big serious hotel business. I suppose one option might be to set the cancellation fee equal to what you'll end up having to pay in addition to find accommodations. Of course that'd quickly become a total eff-job trying to figure out what could reasonably be called "equivalent quality" so that people don't get cancelled on and stay at the Ritz.