Problems with calendar - availability changing without explanation

[Dave1469]

Hi Airbnb Community, 

Hoping to find help/advice here. My partner and I are new hosts and having a really strange issue with our calendar. 

We have had the same issue 5 times now with dates becoming available on our calendar 3 months in the future (all of them have come in August 2024). 

We've had bookings made during the open dates and are incurring charges for cancelling them as our property isn't available then. 

We've raised the issue numerous times with Airbnb but they have basically said they don't believe us and say that it must be us editing the dates. This is despite the same issue re-occurring pretty consistently, I imagine if I log in in a few days we will have new dates changes as it seems to be pretty consistent. 

Curious to know if there are any strange settings which might make dates available as a default or any other possible explanations, or if anyone has had a similar issue? 

[Rebecca]

Hi @Dave1469 👋

Congratulations and a huge welcome to the Community Center! It's great to have you here with us. 

It's been a while since you posted and I'm wondering whether you managed to get a resolution to your question? It'd be great to hear from you, so we can understand what the resolution was but also to support other Hosts who may have similar questions in the future. 😊 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Dave1469 

What is your Calendar Availability Setting?

This may be due to the Calendar Availability settings on your listing(s). From the way you describe it, it sounds like you have chosen a 3-month window? Airbnb uses a "rolling calendar" for all choices in this section on the listing calendar except for the choice "Unavailable by Default". This means that as each day passes, that date will open 3 months out on your calendar automatically (there is usually a lag of a day or two).

Many Hosts use the "Unavailable by Default" option instead. This keeps the calendar blocked until you open dates manually. We prefer this, as this allows us to price the listing correctly, before opening dates up: