Airbnb does not respect my minimum stay

Answered!
Debra108
Level 3
Silver Spring, MD

Airbnb does not respect my minimum stay

I have specified 45 days as a minimum on my listing. However, recently I was contacted by a guest who wanted a 30 day stay and another that wanted 9 days.

 

 I’m pretty sure that Airbnb customer support would tell me that they want to give me the chance to accept any guest- because they recently told me that in regards to my 2 days between guests when they overrided my requirement.

 

However I don’t want any guest — I want to be respected in my request for my minimum stay. Does anyone else have this problem with Airbnb?

Top Answer

@Debra108 A guest can’t ‘over ride’ your preferences. They can send you an inquiry, which is simply a question. This guest was asking if you would waive your min stay for them. If they sent you a request (to book), then it will be for your selected min stay length only. You only need to reply to the inquiry stating ‘sorry, not possible’. 

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16 Replies 16
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Debra108  The thing is, guests can request whatever they want. They can ask you to find them a personal chef, make an exception to a no pets rule for their three 100 pound "well-behaved" dogs, or stock the fridge with a week's worth of food. They can ask for the moon, and it falls to the host to say no.

@Sarah977  I didn’t think it was the guest! That makes sense. You are  saying  that guests can ask for anything they want , even if the host has specified something in their preferences (like minimum stay) . So it was the guest who overrided my preferences.  Ok, I get it! Thanks for clarifying!

@Sarah977 but does responding within 24 hours count then too? 

@Debra108  I'm not sure what you mean, does responding within 24 hours count. You have to respond to all inquiries and requests within 24 hours, regardless of what the guest asks for. If it's an inquiry message, just answer, reiterating your booking time frame (you don't have to click on decline), if it's a booking request, send the same sort of message and ask them to please withdraw the request so they'll be free to find a place that suits their needs, but if they don't withdraw it within the 24 hours, you'll have to click on decline.

@Debra108 A guest can’t ‘over ride’ your preferences. They can send you an inquiry, which is simply a question. This guest was asking if you would waive your min stay for them. If they sent you a request (to book), then it will be for your selected min stay length only. You only need to reply to the inquiry stating ‘sorry, not possible’. 

@Colleen253 Thank you! That's helpful!

Dale711
Level 10
Paris, France

Hi @Debra108 

You have an option to turn on the button ‘ don’t allow reservation request.’ 

 

Be mindful, by turning on the button ‘ don't allow reservation request,’ your listing won't appear on the search list, Airbnb will not be boosting your listing.

However, the guest can only find your listing by ‘filters’ in of  45 days stays in the search results.

 

How to turn on ‘don't allow reservation request’?

Airbnb App> Booking Setting> Calendar> Trip Length Section > the last line of the page ‘ don't allow reservation request’  and turn the button on the right bottom of the page.

 

Happy Hosting 😊

 

@Dale711  I don't see that button in the Trip Length section.

My bad! 

Thank you for the correction @Sarah977 is right 😊

I apologies  for the error @Debra108 🙏

@Dale711  That screenshot only limits reservation requests for stays longer than the maximum trip length.

 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Debra108 

You own 2 listings, which seems to be 2 rooms in the same house.

The calenders of both listings do no allow me to select a stay less then 45 nights.

 

This happens so frequently, it's a big inconvenience for me. I don't seem to have a solid plan, but for places where we have keypads (not physical keys) I have taken to including this in the pre-checkin email "codes will be active from 4pm on check in date to 11am on check out date". That doesn't solve people just hunkering down and not leaving, but it does re-inforce the time. I also send an email or text in the morning of checkout to ask if there is anything that I can help them with before their 11am checkout, and I remind them the cleaners will be there to prepare the apartment for the next guest. So I do a few things, but there is always the guest that just won't respond to emails/texts and gets huffy when you end up banging on the door to tell them they have to leave.

@Manuel3884  A reminder of check-out time is best sent the afternoon before, not morning of. That might help.

@Emiel1 Actually I own 3 listings, and they are all in the same house.  I think one listing requires a longer stay. I think what people are saying here is that guests can find my listing in a search and request a stay shorter than 45 nights, even though the calendars don't allow it.  And I can say no.  This makes sense to me now. But I don't think they can book that request until I allow it.