Custom Promotion option not available

[Ximena225]

My primary listing East Austin Boho Chic has over 5 bookings and has had 2 of them fulfilled. 

Yet the custom promotion option isn’t available stating I am not yet eligible. Eligibility is to have at least 3 bookings and I do. 

help. 

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ximena225 

Custom Promotions have other requirements as well besides the 3 bookings. My guess is your new listing doesn't meet the 60day median price requirement:

Why Can't I Set Custom Promotions For Certain Dates

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2719

"When we calculate the discounts, we look at the 60-day median price for each date. In other words, we line up all of the prices you had set for that date from lowest to highest, and the price that falls in the middle is the median. If we don’t have a 60-day median price for a date, it won’t be eligible for a promotion. The date must be:

• Currently unblocked
• Unblocked for 28 of the last 60 days
• Less than 90 days away"

[Bhumika]

Hi @Ximena225 , Did you check out Joan's response? She has pretty much summed up useful article and points related to your question. Did you get a chance to cross check your median price? 

The article shared by Joan also gives an idea of how the median price works. Do keep us posted if you happen to explore it! Looking forward to hear from you! 🌻

[Drew-and-Nicola0]

I'm experiencing the same problem. 

I had blocked out several days — From Aug. 18, 2024 to the 30th — for personal reasons. My personal situation changed and I unblocked those dates. Because of having those days back in my inventory and considering the up coming U.S. holiday on September 2, I wanted to create a custom promotion. But, those dates are grayed-out/un-selectable.

Apparently, I'm being blocked from promoting my recently released inventory because those dates haven't been unblocked for 28 of the previous 30 days.

This limitation is harmful to my business and is unnecessarily restrictive. What if I had a cancellation and needed to promote those days? I suppose someone in the past has abused the ability to offer custom promotions. Yet, why punish ethical business people who do not abuse promotions with such an illogical restriction?

From my perspective, this hindrance to my business imposed by ABB is damaging, erodes the ABB brand, and makes me much less likely to refer hosts to the platform.

ABB needs to allow hosts to use their best judgment to promote their businesses, not lock down their calendars.

[Joan2709]

Hi @Drew-and-Nicola0 

Since this is a special feature of the platform, Airbnb controls when their Custom Promotions are available and for what dates. have found that Holidays generally are not available for promotion. It looks like they have also added some new restrictions including the fact that Custom Promotions are not available if you already have weekly and monthly discounts for the dates selected.

You can always manually lower your prices for the dates not available for Custom Promotions and/or add weekly or monthly discounts that would apply to the dates.

When Custom Promotions Aren't Available For A Listing

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2720

[Jimmi27]

Joan's answer was great, but I would like to point out that in early 2025, my problem specifically was I could only set the Custom Promotions using my Android app, instead of the website in my Chrome browser. The Custom Promotion button was missing from multi-calendar mode, and in regular calendar on the right hand side under "Custom Promotion:Choose the dates and discount", there is nowhere for me to confirm/complete the promotion dates or show the percentage slider.

Again, all works normal and good in the app, and I can then view the custom promotions afterwards on the web browser version as well, just can't create them in the web version.

[Joan2709]

@Jimmi27 

Hmmm...that is odd. I'm not having that issue on a browser using Chrome or Firefox.

What did Airbnb say when you notified them of the issue? Did you try:

• Log out (on all affected devices/browsers)
• Close all browser windows/tabs (on all affected devices/browsers)
• Open ONE new window (on all affected devices/browsers)
• Clear cache and cookies and browser history (on all affected devices/browsers)
• Log in with email associated with your Airbnb account

[Jimmi27]

The fix might have been a combination of logging out and clearing cache. I cleared the cache a few times over the past month, but it didn't work. Then when I was on with tech support today, I tried logging in with a browser I never use (Edge), and it did in fact work.

So I went back into Chrome and logged out of Airbnb, then I cleared cache, then I logged back in. That worked, and the percentage slider for custom promotions was once again showing up in the right-hand panel. Thanks!