Changes to Blocked Calendar Dates

[Kate2401]

Has anyone else noticed the change to blocking with the new release? In the past the calendar was "grayed out" for dates beyond when you accept reservations. (In my case, 3 months) and then you could block dates that were going to be unavailable once booking was available. Since the new release, dates are no longer "grayed out" but all dates are blocked.

This means, if you want to block dates in December they must be blocked one day at a time when you hit your availability date. I.e.  I would have to block each date individually every day I hit 3 months in advance; blocking Dec 5 on Aug 5, blocking Dec 6 on Aug 6, etc, etc...

(This has been confirmed for me 

This strikes me as a horrible experience for both hosts and guests. Thoughts from the community?

[Fred13]

Not like my calendar works at all; highlight one date drag forward as long as you can in your screen and hit 'Blocked'. I use a desktop/laptop; and they are working on making some cool changes to that version.

[Paula]

Hello @Kate2401 and Welcome to our Community Center,

Given the response from @Fred13, I am wondering if you are updating your calendar on a desktop or mobile phone. This could explain the difference. I also came across  👉this article that explains how to update the calendar on different devices. You may have already seen it, but I wanted to share it with you just in case you find it useful.

Paula

[Kate2401]

Thank you, Paula & Fred! 

I am able to block nights, but I cannot differentiate nights that are blocked because they are outside my booking window and nights that I want blocked once that booking window opens up.

AirBnB Support said this was an intentional changes and dates you want blocked must be done one day at  a time when your schedule opens up.

In my case, I only open bookings three months out so all of December is currently blocked. When December becomes available in early August, I will have to go in and re-block each day as it opens up. If I wanted to block Dec 6 - 12, on August 5, I have to go in and re-block December 5. On August 6, I have to go in and re-block December 6 and so on & so forth for six more days in a row.

It used to be that it was "grayed out" for being too far in the future and that was different from blocked. 

[Fred13]

Ohhh, now I know exactly what you mean and you are correct @Kate2401 .

A few issues and we covered this in one of the workshops lately. Yes, as we could block/unblock a new opening date in the Airbnb calendar, unfortunately it is defaulting as being open & it is defaulting to the existing old price (not latest price).

Furthermore, it is suppose to allow guests to book up to 2 years in advance and for hosts to do their settings that much in advance - not so. That is not what is happening, some guests are hitting a 3-month wall, others 1 year and yet others 2 years.

Lastly, the calendar should have the option for hosts to create dynamically a much sexier calendar and through the use of some options to allow us to derive information at a glance, according to how a particular host needs it to be.

They did listen, understood and I do think really believed (the trifecta of improvement) in these new ideas - and hopefully we will see some cool new calendar options soon. 😉

[Kate2401]

Thanks for these insights! With dates automatically being open when they are in the window, will you be doing the same thing I am planning to and going in daily to block dates off that shouldn't be available?

I'm trying to find a better solution than potentially having to make those updates every day for 7 mornings in a row. (And then having to contact AirBnB to not 'ding' me if someone books before I could get to blocking it off and I have to cancel / decline them.)

[Al264]

Is this really how AirBnB are going to operate?  There is no way I am organized enough to block one day at a time 3 months in advance.  Is there a way around this? How does it work on vrbo and other platforms?  I may have to change.

[Luke187]

Yes we have the same problem 

[Chelsea287]

Yes! I am experiencing this exact problem. It was perfect the way it was when we could “block out” blocks of dates beyond the calendar availability window (mine being 9 months). Otherwise it’s very time consuming to go in and block every day as it becomes available and just too much to remember. Did Airbnb give a reason why they took the “unavailable” greyed out area beyond the booking window away?? Very frustrating to go backwards. Please keep in the loop if anyone hears any news on this subject. Thanks 🙏 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Chelsea287 @Al264 There is a simple solution for those using the website.

Go into your account and switch on pro tools. Then a multi calendar will be available to you (basically a strip calendar which is great if you have multiple listings and annoying if you don't). Anyway in this calendar you can go to ant date in the future outside your availability window and you get 3 options (available, blocked, not available yet or some such words). To get your normal monthly calendar just click on the name to the eft of the multi calendar.

Hope this helps

[Chelsea287]

Hi Mike-And-Jane0. Thank you so much for replying. I can see what you are referring to and I can see the 3 options Available, Blocked and Unavailable (Base on 9 month booking window). The problem is that the dates outside the 9 month booking window currently do not present as the third Unavailable  option. All dates outside the booking windows present as blocked already. The dot next to blocked is highlighted green and the available and unavailable (due to booking window) dots are not highlighted. I am beginning to wonder if it has to do with syncing calendars with VRBO or Hospitable. Thank you kindly for getting me this far - I hadn’t noticed the 3 availability options are still there on my desktop account. Cheers, Chelsea 

[Al264 · Accepted solution]

Make sure you are using the multi-calendar, and not the regular one.  Multi-calendar is a single horizontal strip for each property (even if you only have one property).  Then you scroll to the right to find the dates you want to block.  Example below; grey dates are blocked due to booking window, while line through are manually blocked dates.

[Al264]

Thanks!  This seems to work.  A bit clunky on the multi-calendar, but doable.  When you go back to the normal calendar it does not seem possible to tell why the dates are blocked (i.e., manually blocked dates look the same as dates outside the rolling booking window).  Are you sure they will stay blocked when my blocked dates roll into the rolling booking window?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Al264 @Chelsea287 Have faith - Everything will work fine. Just block a date one day past your 9 month window and check tomorrow and it will still be blocked!

[Margaret1515]

Hi, where would I find pro tools so I can switch it on? Thank you !