Blocked dates

[Maria2793]

Hi all,

This will be my first time hosting, so I have two questions and I hope someone could help me 🙂

- I am renting my room as I go away for a month, and I set the availability dates till the 4th of January and I blocked the date from when I come back and so on (in this case the 5th of Jan is blocked), it turns out that today I got a booking which is to check out on the 5th. Does anybody know how that happened? I do not mind the couple to leave the same day I arrive but I had to change the check out time which I hope the guest doesnt mind, I had organized in advance someone to come and clean in the morning which I will have to cancel and is pretty inconvenient for me as I am arriving that day.  Does this often happen? Is it something I did wrong or is an airbnb mistake? 

- I added a cleaning fee that it is shown in the overall price but I also added a bond/security deposit, is that money to be paid when they get to the flat? Does aibnb charge it later? How does it work? 

I appreciate if someone replies 🙂 

Thank you for taking the time

Maria

[Steve143]

Hello @Maria2793,

When you set dates as available that means that they're available for checkin and for staying through that date. In the case you describe someone can, for example, check in on the 4th and check out on the 5th. You blocked the 5th so that means no one can check in or stay through the 5th but it's still possible for a guest to check out on that day. It isn't a bug. If you want to avoid checkouts on a particular date you must block the previous date.

If a hotel says they're fully booked on the 5th but available on the 4th one would still expect to be able to stay on the night of the 4th and check out on the 5th.

Airbnb's use of the term "deposit" is at best misleading. Airbnb doessn't charge the guest the amount. what happens is that it's an amount up to which the host can ask Airbnb to request from the guest after damage is done and the host makes a claim.

The article below has more information on what Airbnb means by the term "security deposit".

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits

The posts at the link below have information on various topics to do with hosting.

Community Help Guides - Airbnb Community

Steve.

[Maria2793]

Much appreciated Steve, that was super clear and helpful !

Thank you !

[Sarah977]

@Maria2793   Don't bank on Airbnb collecting on the security deposit for damages- if the guest doesn't agree that they are responsible and to be charged, it's a big song and dance to get Airbnb to collect. 

I'd advise you to remove any precious, irreplacable items before allowing guests to rent your personal space.

[Maria2793]

Thank you for the reply!

I will take you advice 🙂 

[Emilia42]

@Maria2793, do you really need someone to clean when you will be arriving home that day?

[Maria2793]

You might be right, I booked someone to come early as I will arrive around 11.

I'll change it 🙂 

[Lyn100]

I was on a 11 night cruise I had blocked dates for this, but received a booking and was unable to reply to this reservation until I returned to Sydney 2 days later. 

1) How can you block dates & block reservations? 

2) What can you do in this situation ? 

3) Can you block dates and put a 'pause' on reservations ?

Any other suggestions or information from other hosts, as Airbnb information is a bit unclear.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Lyn100 🙂

You can "snooze" your listing. That way no one can request or even see your listing. 

Also if you have upcoming reservations you could write to the guests telling them about your vacation and that you will reply to any messages from them as soon as your back home or something like that 🙂

[Sandra856]

@Lyn100 How to snooze : Go to your dashboard. Choose "Listing" then "Listing details" scroll all the way down to "Listing status" press edit and you can choose the dates you wish to snooze.

[Lyn100]

Hi Sandra,  Thank you so much for this information, Airbnb was not very clear about this process.  I have 'explored' it, and it does everything I need.