I had to cancel 5 AirBnB reservations I made for last September in Europe and received all of my money back within a few days. We have used AirBnB for years and have never had any problems. I do try to contact the renters with a question or two before booking just to try and make sure they actually own their unit. I also only book units with generous cancellation policies. I think this weeds out the problem renters. The only time we book hotels is for short stays when paying a cleaning fee doesn't make sense.