Another bad Airbnb update that loses profits

[Guido329]

To maximize my profits (and Airbnb's) I used to be able to set a specific day when a guest should arrive.

Since I can't receive a guest every day I ask for a minimum stay of 5 nights. The problem is that I can lose many days of rentals. If a guest leaves on a Sunday I would like the next guest to arrive on that Sunday, and not on Monday or Tuesday, for example, and be unable to rent those days in between.

In an old account my wife has we can accept bookings only of those guests who arrive the day the other guest leaves. On my newer account, this is no longer possible.

I can not understand why Airbnb canceled that feature. I can understand that they do not care if the host loses money or is inconvenienced, but why would they want to lose money too?

[Joelle43]

Hello @Guido329 

A lot of hosts on the anglophone CC are having these problems and also on the French one since they opted in for the new release but there is a solution!  By opting in for the "professional tools" you will find the possibility of setting arrivals for a given day of the week and the same for a departure date by creating rule sets.

You do not need to be a professional to opt in - they are now available to us all and are really handy.

I have made a screen shot of my listing to show you that you can set different minimum stays by clicking on "create a new rule set" and each one has a different colour code that appears on the new "multi calendar" which is linear.

So here you see my different minimum night stays according to the events in my town.  By clicking on "create a new rule-set" you will see this second page (below )with many possibilities also - minimum stays, promotions etc.  Under the heading"availability" section you will see the part that interests you - here you can tick the boxes that guests cannot arrive or depart from.  

I hope you find this useful

All the best

Joëlle

[Guido329]

 This is what I used to be able to do: 

[Joelle43]

Hello @Guido329 

And if you click on the dates on the multi-calendar first and then press edit, are you not able to do the same thing??

[Guido329]

No. That is my point.

I can on my wife's older account which we opened 3 years ago, but I can't on the account I opened this year.

Airbnb for some reason took away that feature on all new accounts. On the multi-calendar, I can only set the minimum days for a specific range of dates, but I can not ask the guest to book from a specific day, only applicable for that range of dates.

[Guido329]

Now all I can do is this (please note there is no check-in day section):

[Guido329]

Hi Joëlle,

I looked into it, but I think the check-in/check-out day setting you showed me must be valid every week of the year. I knew about this and this is not useful to me.

In the old account, I was able to set check-in day on a Sunday the first week of August (for example), the second week of August on a Tuesday, the third week of August on a Friday, and so on. 

Imagine that the first week of August the previous guest leaves on a Sunday. To maximize my profits I want the next guest to arrive on that Sunday. On the second week of August, the previous guest leaves on a Tuesday. I want the next guest of that week to arrive on a Tuesday.

It doesn't help my profits if every week guests must arrive on a Sunday, this may only be convenient if for some reason I can only welcome guests on a Sunday. 

[Guido329]

Thank you so much @Joelle43  for your time and effort. It looks like it may work, even if it looks more convoluted and less user friendly. Still I do not understand why Airbnb would spend money and time on updating their site to complicate things and resulting in less income for the hosts and the company itself. It makes you wonder the competence of the people behind it. 

Thank you,

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Guido329 

Here is what I found out after a very lengthy discussion with CS.

Use Rule Sets to Set a Date Range for Custom Check-in and/or Checkout

Prior to the Summer 2023 Release, Hosts were able to select a date range to apply custom check-in and/or checkout restrictions on the regular calendar. Currently (as of 08/16/23), that functionality has been removed on the regular calendar. However, you CAN still apply custom*date range* (not just day of the week) restrictions for check-in and/or check-out using Pro Tools and Rule Sets; it’s just accomplished in a different fashion. If Airbnb would simply add a date range box to Rule Sets in Availability, that would be easier for Hosts. I have provided feedback on that and suggest all Hosts experiencing this issue do the same.

In the mean-time (as of 08/16/23), here is how to add check-in and/or check-out restrictions for a range of dates using Pro Tools and Rule Sets (per CS):

1. Create a Rule Set for your restriction (check-in and/or check-out day)
2. Choose a name and color for it
3. Then simply click on the first date on your calendar you wish to apply it; then the last date you wish to apply it. The multi-calendar tool will select all dates in-between automatically. You may also simply click and move your mouse over the dates to select them and apply the restriction.

Hope this helps anyone who is struggling to use restricted check-in and/or check-out after the release. Let us know if it works for you!

[Guido329]

Thank you very much @Joan2709  for your clear instructions and for taking the time to answer me. I really appreciate it. 

My best wishes