Color coding on calendar

[Susie1]

What does the color coding mean on the calendar?

[Jim-and-Marcia0]

About the color lines on the calendar... yes it's related to pricing. If your price is at or below Airbnb's suggested price (based on their algorythyms of supply and demand and other factors), the date will show as blue (blue-green). For our listing I typically see if it is above their suggested price but less than $20 more, it will show as yellow. If it is $20 or more above their suggested price, it will show as red (red-orange). Try changing the pricing on your calendar and see what happens.

The areas on your calendar that are grey (not available for new reservations or green (shows the specific dates a particular guest is booked) are helpful for you so can see your reservations at a glance.

The Airbnb algorythyms don't take into account the particular aspects of your listing that make it unique. Airbnb also doesn't know the special events in your city that might attract guests. Airbnb uses supply and demand data based on general information for your type of listing in your area and your reservation history. You are responsible for your own pricing. Lowering a price doesn't always generate more traffic and raising a price doesn't always bring you a higher quality of guest. Find your own comfort spot.

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FYI... What happens to the calendar when you cancel or decline.... bookings and requests and inquiries...

If a guest had a confirmed reservation and then you cancel it, the dates will no longer be available on your calendar for other guests.

If a guest requested a reservation and you declined the request, the dates will still show.

If a guest sends an inquiry and you respond, you don't have to pre-approve or decline. After your conversation with a potential guest, if you don't have enough information to feel comfortable about pre-approving, you don't need to decline. Instead you can go to your dashboard and "dismiss" the conversation, then you won't be prompted again to pre-approve or decline.

Remember if you decline too many reservation requests and/or inquiries, it will work against you. Airbnb knows guests don't feel good when their requests and inquiries are declined. So, if you decline often, it will affect your listing placement. Airbnb might even contact you to remove a listing if you decline too many guests (requests or inquiries). If you cancel someone who has a confirmed reservation, it is really bad and you will be heavily penalized for that.

[Lilly25]

Yeah, a legend for these symbols would be really useful!

My calendar has a red dot in the lower right on some dates, a squiggly line on the bottom left of some dates, and nothing in the other dates (not a blue or green dot). 

[Alexandra316]

@Lilly25 The squiggly line means that Smart Pricing is turned on for that date. A red dot means that your pricing is too high (according to their algorithm) and is unlikely to get booked.

Yes, a legend would be super helpful!

[Maggie107]

The red dot does not make sense if its to do with the pricing as I have the same price per night for say a month but the red dot is only on certain dates ( and not explained as ie weekdays only) so what does the red dot actually mean?

[Jane1030]

what do the gray diagonal line on a date mean?

[Lawrence159]

What does the blue shading mean on the calendars. Are those available dates !

[Deanne11]

My calendars are synched but the non-Airbnb reservations are just a think black line through the date.  The cleaners often miss it completely when I send them a photo of the calendar .  I try to mark it but missing it could mean a guest enters an unclean suite.  I would like Airbnb to mark the calendar with a different mark (color) spade, ?? anything that shows it is reserved through another platform.  PLEASE  

[Eileen334]

I spoke with an Airbnb rep about how they need to color code bookings from other sites on calendars. The rep said this isn't possible. Yes, the dashes are impossible to see! 

Rep said to submit feedback to their help page, aka the black hole.

[Sandy643]

can Airbnb use different symbols to show a booked reservation besides using the dash (-)? It's confusing when you look at the bookings, especially past bookings when the calendar also marks off the days of the week/month by using a dash (-) as well. It looks like to me there should be another symbol to use to represent booked reservations or use a slash to mark and count off the days of the week/month 

[Nicky50]

The red shading that you are seeing are just an indicator about the minimum 3 nights that you've set. The dates that are set for a minimum of 7 nights are shaded blue, minimum of 5 nights are shaded green and minimum of 3 nights are shaded red.