Unauthorized Dates Blocked on my Calendar by AirBnB - $2,500 Loss in Revenue

[Andre10024]

Hello Hosts,

My calendar has dates that are currently blocked because AirBnB is trying to verify something with someone who requested to rent for those days. I do not allow auto booking which means I have the right to decline renters, but in this case, I cannot decline because AirBnB has placed a block on the dates. This is the 2nd time it has happened and it has caused me to loose $2,500.

When I spoke with AirBnB, I was informed it is how the system works and their is nothing that can be done until the hold expires. Why is the "system" designed to block dates on my calendar with out my consent and how do I change that so I do not continue to loose money? 

Thank You,

Dre

[Sarah977]

@Andre10024  You can't change it. Airbnb allows 24 hours to verify a guest's information. So if you accept the booking request, you may have that wait.

Of course this isn't fair to hosts. Guests should have to have all their info verified before they are allowed to send a booking request. But Airbnb doesn't want to make anything at all difficult for guests.

I have found that when a guest has a history of Airbnb stays, their booking gets confirmed right away, because all their info is already verified. It's the new to Airbnb guests who it can take this time with. So you could just start declining all requests from new users, but that's not a great alternative either.

Some hosts have reported that they insisted that Airbnb that the block be removed, that they couldn't be expected to lose out on bookings just because a guest didn't have all their info entered, and were successful. 

[Andre10024]

Hi @Sarah977  and thanks for your response,

I was not informed of the reservation request until after the dates were blocked on my calendar, so I never had an option to accept or decline. Also, my listing is set to not accept auto-bookings so AirBnB should never auto-block dates on my calendar when I did not accept the reservation.

[Helen3]

Then as @Sarah977  suggested @Andre10024 give Airbnb a call and ask them to remove it. 

[Sarah977]

@Helen3  He said he already did and they said the block couldn't be removed. Hopefully he just got some clueless rep.

[Sarah977]

@Andre10024   I also don't use Instant Book and that's never happened to me before. But I haven't hosted since March, given that there's a pandemic and I have a home share. I hope this is just a glitch and isn't some new Airbnb thing.

[Andre10024]

I think @Helen3 is right, it happened again since then and when I called AirBnB that rep had the dates unblocked. So it must have just been a clues Rep I spoke with the 1st time.

Thanks Team...I love this Community lol