New calendar

[Tony-And-Una0]

Hi All

Does anyone else think the new calendar is horrendous?

Closed nights lightly shaded so hard to see.  Full month doesn't fit the page. Doesn't show who the calendar synced with (it just says synced with but not who it's synced with).  Link to the booking settings page at the top of the page has gone. Strange stings of code written across parts of it. 

I hate it.

[Emiel1]

@Tony-And-Una0 

It sounds more like there is (local) glitch.

The listing calender at my side (website) still looks the same.

Although the  "select date range via calenders" is (still) missing:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Select-a-dtae-range-to-block-calendar-not-working/m-p/15318...

Can you provide a screenshot ?

[Tony-And-Una0]

[Maarten-/-Rachna0]

I find the new calendar design unusable.  Comparison between old design and new design:

- The old design had the month calendar viewable on one page.  Now, I need to scroll or put it into year view to see the whole month.

- With the old design it was easy to distinguish blocked dates from available dates. Now, they are almost the same color

-  I used to be able to see *why* dates were blocked on the calendar, for example I could see at a glance if dates were blocked due to a linked listing, and I could see the duration of the linked listing reservation from the start to end date that was blocking those dates.  Now the date simply says "blocked", and they are lightly colored and hard to distinguish from the unblocked dates.  To see what dates are blocked due to a linked listing, I need to click on each listing and view each listing calendar separately, or I need to click on each individual date to see why the date is blocked by reading the reason in the right hand pane of the window.   For example, let's say there are 7 days blocked due to a linked listing.  I used to be able to see that there were 2 reservations, one 4 days in duration and one that is 3 days in duration.  Now, all I see is 7 days that are "blocked", and I have to go back and forth between my listings in the calendar to view what used to be clearly visible in one calendar.  This makes it very hard for me to determine at a glance when we need to clean, what days we'll have a same day turnaround etc, what days I need to manually block to add some deep cleaning, when we'll have time to get in to make repairs. etc.

- I could easily scan to find where "today" is.  Now it seems harder to find.  

In order to see all of this information at a glance like I used to, it seems I will have to go in and manually annotate each reservation with a note so that I can view it at a glance in the other listings calendar?  THIS IS A LOT OF WORK. I use the calendar everyday, and this redesign just adds more clicks to the most basic task of understanding which listing is booked on which days.  I can recreate this functionality by manually adding a note to every reservation because the notes are still visible on the calendar.  But I why should I manually have to add a note to each reservation???  Can you please please bring the old design back?  And do some usability testing with hosts who rely on basic features when you redesign them?   

Does anyone have any advice on how I can export and manage my reservations into another tool?  I can not use this "calendar" without basic calendar functionality (being able to quickly find "today", being able to view the calendar at a glance, determine at a glance what days are blocked and what are available and which days are blocked due to a linked listing).  Thank you in advance for any advice or help!

[Colleen253]

@Tony-And-Una0 @Maarten-/-Rachna0 I just got the updated version as well and agree completely. It's horrendous. 

[Katja202]

I don't have any problems. It works fine and looks fine!

[Maarten-/-Rachna0]

@Katja202 Thank you so much for your response.  It appears that you have the old calendar, which I would love to have back!  Maybe they are rolling out this feature to users, and I am unlucky in getting the new one.  The new calendar is bigger, so all of December will not fit on one screen, so it is much harder to navigate.  In the new calendar, you will not be able to see that the 5-6 is blocked and the reason why (you will only see "Blocked" on the 5th), and you will lose the ability to distinguish between the block on the 5th and the block on the 25-26th, because in the new calendar those blocked days all look the same, unless you put a manual note on them. The reservations are now brightly colored, and the pictures of the guests are very big on the calendar.  It is also very hard to distinguish between blocked days and open days as they are almost the same color. I do not need to see my guest's faces on my calendar, but I do need to see when they are checking in and out, and why certain days are blocked at a glance.   

Attached is an example of what I see.  I have two listings that are linked (one is a 3 bedroom configuration, and one is a 4 bedroom configuration, and guests can choose how many bedrooms they would like).  In the prior calendar, I would be able to see everything I need in one calendar.  The calendar is my default view, and I look at it every day to plan cleaning, repairs, decide to accept guests, etc.  I would be able to see that in my other listing, I have a guest checking out tomorrow November 23 and another guest checking in the same day, as my calendar would have those colored in dark grey with a dark oval that distinguished the two events and how many days those events spanned (like the grey oval  on your calendar that shows the blocked days  spanning the Dec 5-6).  I could also distinguish between blocks that I placed, blocks that were from a linked calendar, blocks because I require 24 hour notice, etc.  All of those blocks are for different reasons, and they are important for knowing what I have to do.  All of those labels used to be automatically visible on the calendar, and now I need to manually add notes.  Otherwise, all I see is the word "blocked" on each day, and not what the block is for or how many days it spans.   I have to click on my other calendar to see that someone is actually checking out tomorrow, and I almost missed this tonight, which is why I am upset by this change.  To figure out someone is checking out tomorrow, I have to click on another calendar to see that information. 

And the  "Today" feature does not replace the calendar feature,  so I am very reliant on the calendar view (and it is my default view for planning cleaning, house repair, travel, and deciding when to accept guests).   The "today" feature loses the information of what day of the week or what month I have reservations on, which is how we all schedule our time and can make plans (e.g., certain people only work on certain days, some things can only happen on the weekends, some stores are only open certain days, etc).  

My apologies for the long reply, but I am not sure how I can function without a calendar that shows me things at a glance.  I simply don't have time to click around and make manual notes for every reservation, especially since the old calendar worked great.  Maybe I will simplify my listings, which will mean less choice for guests, less reservations and less income.  Or maybe there is another management tool that others can recommend?  Thank you for any and all advice.  I hope there is some way to get the old calendar back!

[Bonnie-and-Patrick0]

No way!!  We have some new stupid calendar!!  I want the old one back.  The new one has no redeeming qualities!!!

Consider me one pissed off host in Florida!!!

[Katja202]

I wanted to edit my review but that isn't working. I wanted to say, perhaps it has something to do with the computer version you are using. Like windows 7 or 10 or Mac .....

[Maarten-/-Rachna0]

@Katja202  Thank you so much for your response and your help!  It looks like you have the old calendar, which I would love to have back.  Look at the one @Tony-And-Una0 posted which is the new one and the same one I just got today.  Some features that are good in your old calendar are:

- the whole calendar for December fits on one screen.  In the new calendar, you will need to scroll to see all of December, which makes it really hard to navigate.

- it is easy to see at a glance that you have Dec 5-6 blocked for minimum notice, and it is easy to see that these blocked days are different than Dec 1-5 and Dec 25-26.   In the new calendar, Dec 1-6 and Dec 25-26 will all look the same and say "block" on those dates.  The only way to see the difference will be to click on those days individually to see why they are blocked.

- It is clear to distinguish the open dates on your calendar from the blocked dates, because the open is white and blocked is grey, and there is contrast between the two.  In the new calendar, the open and blocked are  both white, but the blocked one has faint grey lines, so you really need to pay attention to each date, look really close and squint to see what is open vs. blocked.  Even the reservations are now black and white, instead of the old green, so everything blends together.

- the new calendar has our guest's faces very big.  why??  I don't really need to see guest faces at all on the calendar.  I just need to know when they are checking in and out, and on what day of the week so we can schedule and prepare.  This should be the PRIMARY functionality of a calendar they removed, and I am not sure for what benefit. 

- The new calendar does not allow you to see events that span multiple days from other linked calendars.  It will only show up as a blocked day, without any label or time span information, unless you manually apply a note.  

I almost missed that I have a guest checking out with a same day check-in tomorrow, which used to be very easy to see on my calendar.  I can't use the "today" feature to replace the calendar as the days of the week are very important. The "today" feature tells me that someone is arriving "in 3 days", which is useless to me and is different than knowing someone is arriving on "Tuesday" or "Saturday", which I need to know to schedule things.  

If anyone has any advice or help, I would appreciate it.  I hope they are just testing the new calendar and if enough people complain, we can keep the old one.  If not, maybe someone has some good work arounds or suggestions for another tool to use?  Thank you!

[Katja202]

@Maarten-/-Rachna0  hee that's funny, because my calendar did change a couple of days before the announcement. hmmmm. So I will keep quiet and don't complain ... otherwise the might change mine as well 🙂 ...hopefully for you guys the fix it soon.

[Katja202]

Perhaps Airbnb can use the design thinking method to design new features. That method uses the users to design. That way you are sure it fits the bill for everyone and it is a fun way to design.

[Tony-And-Una0]

They could have just asked any hosts and they would have known immediately it was not fit for purpose.

It's unbelievable they still foist these rubbish updates on us making our jobs more difficult.

If there no mechanism for user feedback before rolling these things out to everyone

[Bonnie-and-Patrick0]

The new calendar sucks!!  Why would they change it?  It was great before!