A family who paid £3,400 for a holiday rental claim they were warned they would be denied entry unless they cancelled their booking.
Solar eclipse enthusiast Sara Bauer booked a beachfront property in the Moroccan resort of Marwan for the first week of August 2027. The northern coastal town offers an ideal vantage point for the event, dubbed 'the eclipse of the century'. It will be doused in darkness for close to seven minutes.
Host demanded cancellation
The Montana woman was looking forward to the trip when, she says, the host sent her a message insisting she cancel the reservation. She claims he warned that her family would be turned away at the door if she refused.
After agreeing to cancel, Sara says she found the same property advertised for the same week at £20,400 — six times the original price, reports the Mirror.
Chocolatier's account
The chocolatier, who runs Chocolate Eclipse, told the Mirror: "The host of my Airbnb in Morocco is demanding that I cancel my reservation. He says he will be penalised badly if he cancels it. He said he's selling the place before next year and didn't realise at first that I had booked so far out. He says he will be penalised if he does the cancellation, but will if I refuse to cancel."
Sara added: "He had said I wouldn't have access even if I didn't cancel."
Worried she would travel all the way to Morocco only to be locked out, Sara said she "caved" and agreed to cancel. The host told her the property was being taken off the rental market for refurbishment.
However, she subsequently spotted it advertised again for the identical week at the higher price.
Airbnb response and penalties
Following contact from the Mirror, Airbnb deactivated the listing and took action against the host. An Airbnb spokesperson said: "Issues of this nature are rare, and where we determine misuse of our cancellation policy, hosts not only lose the income from the booking, but face consequences we apply, including fees of up to 50% of the booking cost, a block on rebooking their listing for the same dates, impact on search ranking and where warranted, suspension or deactivation of the account. Our initial handling of this report fell short of the standards we expect, and feedback will be provided to the agents. We have deactivated the listing, and have applied the relevant penalties in line with our policies on host cancellation. The guest has been offered rebooking support and a coupon as a gesture of goodwill, which has been positively received."
Airbnb hosts who cancel bookings without a valid reason face fees of up to 50% of the reservation cost, restrictions preventing new bookings for the affected dates, and potential damage to their Superhost status and listing search ranking.
Airbnb says cancellation rates have fallen 30% year on year since tougher deterrents were introduced in July 2023.
Demand for accommodation along the path of totality for the 2027 solar eclipse has sent prices soaring. Some property owners have cancelled existing reservations in an attempt to cash in on the interest.
