Denying booking requests that leave multiple gaps

[Pat271]

Hello fellow hosts,

Curious about your thoughts on this.

Sometimes a guest will request to book dates that leave gaps before and after the booking.

For instance, I just got a booking request that leaves a 2-day gap before and a 2-day gap after the requested check-in and check-out date respectively. My minimum stay is 3 days, which means that 4 days will not get booked unless I adjust my minimum stay for those days.

If the guest is otherwise a good match, I have always accepted these requests. It would make me uneasy to make dates available to my guests, only to snatch them away again.

On the other hand, one could argue that a host has the right to be comfortable with their bookings,  in whatever way they see fit. I must admit that although I accept these requests, I’m slightly disappointed to have to either forgo 4-days of bookings, or compromise on my minimum stay requirements.

Have you ever denied a booking because the dates were awkward for your schedule?

[Darran6]

This situation has been discussed a lot, so you're not alone. The Airbnb calendar is woefully basic - really you should be able to set minimum stays tailored to individual dates. I do my best by blocking days and setting different minimum stays for each day of the week, but that is a very time intensive work around which doesn't cover every situation. 

It's also a reason some hosts have more than one listing per property. Against Airbnb rules, but understandable in these cases. 

I've already requested more control over minimum stays from Airbnb. If enough hosts do the same maybe by some miracle they might consider implementing it. 

[Pat271]

@Darran6 You can set minimum stays tailored to individual dates, under Pricing and Availability/Trip Length/Custom Trip Lengths.

Hosts usually have more than 1 listing per property because they have different configurations that can be rented out, e.g. whole house vs. per bedroom. You can arrange listings hierarchically to sync the bookings in this case, e.g. so that no one can rent an individual bedroom during a whole house booking. 

Also, although the subject of gaps has been discussed before, I don’t believe anyone has asked whether hosts have declined bookings based on the gaps they would create, at least not since I’ve been in the group.

[Huma0]

@Pat271 

I think it's just part and parcel of hosting. If you have a three night minimum, you are going to sometimes get two night gaps, the same as if you have a two night minimum, you will get one night gaps. It's up to you if you want to reduce the minimum stay for the gaps in order to fill them, or it's just not worth your time. No, I would not turn guests away based on this. You've advertised the room as available on those dates. If it happens too often, perhaps you could consider increasing your minimum nights to mean each stay is worth it, but I don't know the market you are targeting, so maybe that's not an option.

[Pat271]

@Huma0  It doesn’t really matter what my default minimum stay is set to. Even if it were set to 7 nights, there might be 2-6 night gaps between bookings. It doesn’t have to be inevitable that this randomly happens. Optimally, this could be controlled in the software.

What would really be nice is a custom setting that would disallow the selection of the check-in/check-out date if selection of the date would create a gap between 2 days and the minimum stay-1, either before or after the booking. 

So, for instance, if the minimum stay was five days, a guest couldn’t choose a check-in day that is 2-4  days after the last check-out day, and couldn’t choose a check-out day that is 2-4 days before the next check-in day. A 1-day gap would be fine, and a 5-day gap would be fine. This could be made available as a customizable listing option. @Quincy can this be submitted as a feature request?

But I digress - my main question here was the ethical question of doing the above manually, i.e.  if demand is strong, would it be unethical for a host to decline booking requests based on the gaps the booking would create, knowing that at some point a more favorable booking will probably be requested.

I think everyone is in agreement that this would be an unethical practice.

[Huma0]

@Pat271 

What I meant was that, if there is demand, you could have a longer minimum stay, e.g. 5 nights. When those bookings come in, you reduce the minimum during the gaps to to 3 days, as you are already happy to take stays of that length. So, overall, you get more booked nights within the same timeframe. Its certainly worked for me in the past, but then I never minded having an empty room for a day here or there and it depends on demand in your market.

Or, you could follow the other suggestions here and adjust your rule sets for the dates. There are ways to work around it, it's just time consuming. 

Your suggestion could work, but that depends on whether you think you would have booked those nights regardless, i.e. if you have a gap of five nights and you know they will all get booked up. Otherwise, choosing that setting means you could end up with none of the five nights booked when you might at least have had a three night booking. You have then lost out.

[Kelly149]

@Pat271 I don’t think it’s unethical. You have to run your business within the parameters the platform gives you. If optimizing the calendar requires manual adjustments then so be it. 
but, if there are tools, then by all means use those first

[Emilia42]

@Pat271 Speaking in general . . .  (since I know you stated: It would make me uneasy to make dates available to my guests, only to snatch them away again.)

This is one of the reasons why I favor instant book. I do not think it is fair for a guest to spend time and energy searching for the perfect listing that fits their needs only to have a host decline their request because it doesn't work well for their calendar. 

If a host wanted a longer booking during a specific time period, then they should have said so. I use rules sets to maintain my calendar so instances like this don't happen. If there is a 4-night gap between two bookings I will set a 4-night min so I don't get a random 2-night stay eating up the 4 nights. During the high season, this is crucial so I can max out my calendar. 

[Lorna170]

@Pat271   I have long had a policy of accepting the bookings that come my way gaps included, BUT I have also had a longstanding policy of contacting the guest once booked and offering an extra night at a slightly reduced rate to make the most of those "holes".    Not every guest is able to take advantage of the offering, but all have been appreciative, and I have successfully reduced my losses when there is a gap about 30% of the time.

By the way, I make the offer a few days/weeks after they have booked so I don't appear so needy that they want me to discount the whole booking.

[John5097]

@Pat271 

Another work around is to block off dates on the calendar. If you have a 7 day block of days that are open and a three night minimum. Block off the first three nights, leave 4 night available, then when the four nights book, then open back up the three blocked nights for those to be booked. That way at most you would have one day that wasn't booked out of the seven. This does block off dates but for a while so it may not be right for everyone. I use this in conjunction with the minimum nights rule.