Random Unblocking Of Calendar

[Rose1430]

My calendar keeps being randomly unblocked. The first time I thought it was personal error but it happened again today and I just lost over $20 per night for 4 nights in June because it randomly unblocked like 10 days and apparently decided on what the price would be. I know this issue hasn't been resolved because I'm seeing discussion boards about this from 2016.

Does anyone have any advice on this or how to bring this issue up to AirBnB? Has anyone experienced this and tried to do something about it? This is super uncool. I'm already the type to double, triple, quadruple check things all the time and I guess now I have to check my calendar every hour? 

[David6520]

Since November, we have had the same issue of our calendars being randomly unblocked on 5 different occasions.  We have 21 properties so you can imagine the stress waking up to 20 confirmed bookings that we then need to cancel.  We are Superhost and this has jeopardized our status.  airbnb never takes responsibility for this or even attempt to correct the problem.  We do over $300k in sales per year with them.  When I tell them I'm taking my properties off their platform the scripted voice at the other end says they respect that decision.  We are beyond frustrated.

[Ute42]

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@Rose1430, @David6520 

I have the exact same problem since june last year and there is no end in sight.

Here's a 12 page thread about it in the german Community Center

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Gastgeber-unter-sich/Airbnb-schaltet-ohne-mein-Zutun-Buchungszei...

Till to date, the airbnb software keeps unblocking dates again and again and again.

[Ann489]

@Ute42   I finally turned Instantbook off.   I still have to deal with the occasional inquiry, but that's better than having to call CS and try to get a reservation cancelled.   BTW.  Danke für das Link...interessant.  😉

[Ute42]

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@Ann489 

I found another solution to this problem. For all the dates that I do not want to rent or cannot rent, I have raised the price to a level that noone wants to pay. If You have an average nightly rate of 100 USD and You raise the price for unavailable dates to 500 USD, noone will book. This should also work for Instant book.

[Ann489]

@Ute42  excellent idea, Ute!  😉

[Ann489]

@Rose1430   Happened to me numerous times last year.  The last time, someone was able to book our guesthouse over Christmas, even though we had it blocked for visiting family.  The most annoying part is that you have to call CS to get the reservation canceled and then on top of it, have to listen to their stupid admonishment to make sure "you block dates that you are unable to host on".  Duh.

[Eyal11]

Change your password

[Karen1186]

This has happened twice! The first one they booked for a Long Weekend a few days before the date and got angry because Airbnd wouldn't refund back to their credit card so they could not book anything else!!  The second time was last night - even though  this second time i kept checking that the dates had remained blocked (which is supper frustrating as i found sometimes they weren't) , I got a christmas booking for 80% less that the annual guests who I had actually  blocked for are actually paying.  I think this happened because i changed my booking settings from 3months to 6months on advance but i am sure i rechecked.  I have now had to stop  instant bookings but I think i might do as suggested above and put the highest price possible on there as a back up.

[Leon1960]

We are experiencing the same problem and have for years. Despite having spoken to the Support team we find they completely deny their software is responsible and that it must be user error. Very frustrating and bad service. This is a known issue reported frequently by many hosts and they just don't seem to be bothered fixing it. It is very hard when someone instant books and its the first you realise that the calendar has been unbooked - again.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Leon1960 Even if you do not use smart pricing the base price you set is the price used whenAirbnb open your calendar (for example 6 months out). By setting this price very high and also increasing your price to a very high price if you block dates you will be unlikely to get a booking if the Airbnb glitch happens again.

It's sad to have to do this and it would be much easier if Airbnb got their act together but it is a potential solution to your problem.

[Leon1960]

@Mike-And-Jane0 thank you so much for your reply. An excellent idea we have put to immediate use

[Carolyn760]

Most of these posts are from 2020 and this is still happening in 2023. Shame on Airbnb for not fixing this bug.

I'm a software product manager and I can only assume that they see it as a 'feature' - a revenue-generating one. 

There must be some way we can get their attention. CS just keeps telling me they have reported the issue.  Do our community admins have any pull? 

[Pam2061]

7-17-23 and this keeps happening to me!!! Sooo frustrating! AND, airbnb customer service tells me they’ll deal with it, and it’s not a problem to cancel. But when I cancel, even within 1 minute of getting the booking, airbnb tells me I’ll have. $50 cancellation fee. This is total bs….I’M doing my part right, but I don’t feel like they are supporting me. Super frustrated.

[Carolyn760]

Hi Pam. This hasn't happened to us since early this year when I last posted. At that time I got on with super host support and refused to back down until they cancelled the booking for me. Or, on a couple of occasions, since people get it that there are bugs, I asked the guest to understand my situation and cancel on their end. 

It is inexcusable that they have not fixed this bug. I do wonder about the benefit of these forums if the facilitators can't do anything to help us after years of the same problems. 

I guess it's good to know that you aren't alone! Good luck!