After four years had to cancel---had to go to other vacation portals??

[Clare117]

So, just wondering from some of you?? I have only one chance to make any money in the winter in Iowa...and I had not done any pricing for next year (my bad) someone booked my place for $200 for four nights I couldn't even cover the cleaning or supplies/gifts we give for this, and I cancelled them...so Airbnb blocked my dates...in four years I have NEVER, EVER cancelled anyone. So I had to think fast and wanted to reach out to ABNB to explain and see if they would unblock my dates, but alas...I can't get a body.  So..I have now set up an account on other vacation sites just for this BIG weekend in January....interested to know if others of you have done the same thing?'

[Linda108]

You already know that Air BNB is not very forgiving about host cancellations, especially if it is related to a host error.  I have made the same mistake of not staying on top of the long range pricing, but I chose to just eat the error rather than cancel.  Chalked it up to the learning curve 😛  I wouldn't necessarily abandon Air BNB even though the current system is not working well, but having a back up or alternative platform makes excellent sense as long as you sync the calendars.  

[Ute42]

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@Clare117   

You could just duplicate Your existing airbnb-listing.

You then have 2 identical listings under Your hosting profile:

1. Boji Basement walk to Amusement Park! (the one you messed up)

2. Boji Basement walk to Amusement Park! 2 , all future dates open

There is a duplicate function in Your dashboard, look for it. I have a host friend in Switzerland, @Mika8   , she's playing around with this feature all the time.

Before putting Your duplicated listing online, set the baseprice for that listing to an incredibly high $ amount so that people wouldn't book for such a price. This will prevent You from making the same mistake again. Then adjust the prices for dates You really want to rent manually.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Clare117 whilst I do not use smart pricing the minimum price in that section appears to be the price that Airbnb apply to calendar dates as the open up (6 months window). That way I can't get caught out by a lowball price.

[Emilia42]

How on earth does your nightly price even get down to as low as $50? You control your prices - even if you haven't finalized your prices for the winter yet you can still set a minimum that you are happy with. Get to know the Airbnb settings so these mistakes don't happen. I know it's harsh but this is a classic example of you live and learn. But at least you found a workaround, by going to the other listing site that is. 

[Mika8]

just to make clear .. it's right, that I'm 'playing around' with several duplicates, but not because I messed up, more because some of the duplicates have different options/amenities (so, not direct duplicates) .. and some are real duplicates, when guests messed up with something, that I could give the calendar free earlier and probably more refund to them (I have no instant booking at all of my listings).

When you duplicate a listing, make sure to check everything. Airbnb only duplicates what's in their favour and they will probably also install instant booking by default. Cleaning fees, fee for additional people, this are all stuff, which was not automatically duplicated (but it's several months ago, that I used this function the last time).