Dates Blocked--Tech Glitch

[Alexandra1053]

Hi:

I am curious if anyone else has had this issue. I had a guest ask to stay for 3 months with a dog. We limit the maximum stay to 30 days and as we have a child with allergies we don't allow pets---these are clearly stated rules. I responded and explained this, saying that we could not accommodate the guest for these dates. This was about a month ago. A few days ago, I tried to figure out why we had no bookings in January, February and March so I checked our calendar and discovered that our calendar had blocked off all the dates for the guest who had requested a three month stay with a dog. So no one has been able to book our place over the last month and a half.

Has anyone else had this happen? And what is the best way to avoid this happening? Thanks!

[Emilia42]

@Alexandra1053 Did you receive a request to book from this guest? And did you actually click the decline button?

[Colleen253]

@Alexandra1053 Circumstances that will result in blocked dates are the host cancelling a confirmed booking or allowing a Trip Request to expire. If the potential guest actually sent a Request, but you only responded with a message, and did not take action by declining (or having guest withdraw it), the Request expires and dates are blocked. They can be manually unblocked, unlike with a host cancel. I notice they are available now, so you were able to unblock them, it seems. By the way, I could book from Jan - Apr. so your calendar settings are not right if you want your max stay length to be 30 nights.

[Alexandra1053]

Thank you. I had not realized that simply replying to the email was insufficient and that I need to decline the request as well.

I'm curious as to why if I checked the 30 day maximum stay (see below), it allows people to request a booking for more than 30 days. Thanks!

[Colleen253]

@Alexandra1053 Do you have instant book activated? There is an option to allow requests that fall outside your set parameters. I believe you are opted in automatically, in true Airbnb fashion. Perhaps this is the issue. If not, could be a glitch. The platform is glitch ridden.

 

[Sarah977]

@Alexandra1053  On Inquiries, all that is required is to message back within 24 hours. For Requests,  you must either accept or decline within 24 hours, unless you can get the guest to withdraw the request before the time runs out.

[Alexandra1053]

Hi All:

Thanks again for the very helpful replies. We actually do have instant book on our listing.

I'm also curious because I find this super confusing--if I have a guest request something we don't allow (i.e. a dog) and I decline this request, am I penalized for declining the guest? Or if someone as in the case I had requested a 60 day stay and I decline it, does that count against me? Or does a decline only count if the guest did an instant book, it went through and I then attempted to decline it?

Thanks! And thanks for the comment about the glitches. I find the site is most glitch-ridden on Safari but it still seems to have a lot of glitches which is very strange for a site that is so widely used.

[Colleen253]

@Alexandra1053 Yes a decline counts against you. Just toggle the button to NO.  You cannot ‘decline’ an instant booking. Once you receive notice of one, it’s confirmed. You might want to spend some time reading articles in the help pages so you’re well familiar with these things and more. 

I check my settings daily, after having had my check in time revert to flexible, and my Instant Book requirement settings turned off. Other glitches tied to price and more are very common. Be vigilant.

[Sarah977]

@Alexandra1053  You don't seem to understand the difference between declining and cancelling. 

As Colleen says, it seems like you really need to spend some time reading through the Airbnb help articles for hosts. These are really basic things you need to know.