Dates are unavailable

Answered!
Elen4570
Level 2
Glendale, CA

Dates are unavailable

Hi,

I just posted my listing and asked my friend to try to reserve any day to see what it looks like. He said that all the dates appears unavailable even though it shows as available.

 

please help me to understand why is this like that

 

thank you

1 Best Answer

@Elen4570  Exactly. A preapproval which does not get taken up by the enquiring guest will not have a negative impact on your ratings and statistics. It will only have a positive affect as it reflects the timing of your response to the guest, and the positive response that you give. It is ok for a guest to enquire about your accommodation and others too at the same time usually. At their end they will be getting  encouragement from Airbnb to contact more than one Host, in case their first enquiry is unsuccessful. The more they check before booking, the better. It should lead to guests eventually learning which listings suit them best. They are not always shopping around for the cheapest deal, there are usually a number of other factors which will directly affect their decision to request a firm booking.

Always put safety and and matching your hosting to the correct travellers and youbwill have less cancellations and a better overall experience.

Above all never accept a booking which you do not feel is a good match, or that you are not willing to 100% commit to. Be professional evaluating guest enquiries, be solid in your commitment and you will be rewarded with lots of responsible, cobsiderate and safe guests.  

Best regards Christine from Wombat's at Glenbrook. 

View Best Answer in original post

11 Replies 11
Denis-Mark0
Level 10
Lahnstein, Germany

Hi @Elen4570 

 

various reasons may apply.

 

Did you check your own calender to see if the dates are available or blocked?

 

Usually AirBnb unblockes your calender step by step for a certain amount of months in advance. Were those unavailable dates in the next days or some months in the future?

 

 

 


@Denis-Mark0 wrote:

Hi @Elen4570 

 

various reasons may apply.

 

Did you check your own calender to see if the dates are available or blocked?

 

Usually AirBnb unblockes your calender step by step for a certain amount of months in advance. Were those unavailable dates in the next days or some months in the future?

 

 


How far into the future a calendar shows availability depends on the settings selected by the Host. Some choose to only roll out availability for short periods into the future. Other fulltime hosts who own their properties and are confident about the property  being available  into the future, are happy to accept bookings with longer lead times.

Search through the Help guide for advice on the steps required to set this up.

Enter keywords to search particular topics.

Best regards, 

Christinefrom Wombats StudioAtGlenbrook 

Irena96
Level 1
Glendale, CA

Yes my days are available from Nov 10 but when someone tries to reserve it says “those days are not available “

and there’s no way for me to contact airbnb itself

@Irena96 I see it, too.

 

In other threads it's said that this occurs sometimes when new listing go online. Might take a couple of hours.

 

Otherwise it would definitly be a technical issue. You could forward this issue to the community manager, too,  using @ and his name.

Thank you @Denis-Mark0 

Christine1
Level 10
Glenbrook, Australia

Hi,

@Elen4570 This can be confusing for new hosts. 

@Elen4570  is correct in her explanation of the difference between an expired pre-approval and a cancellation. 

There are lots of reasons your calendar may appear unavailable, many of them are to do with your settings.

You may need to ensure you are using a compatible browser, and recheck all your behind the scenes calendar settings. 

It's also very advisable to read widely on the Help centre using keywords and the search tool. The Help Centre section of the website is chock-a-block with how-to tips for hosting.

Very worthwhile reading to build all your Hosting skills.

Best regards, Chistine@WombatsGlenbrook.

 

Elen4570
Level 2
Glendale, CA

@Christine1  I just pre-approved that guest. So now if that expires and the guest doesn’t make any decision that will not harm my account right?

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Elen4570 

 

A pre-approval is for 24 hours. If Guest doesn't book it does not harm you.

You can also pre-approve more than one person at a time.

 

Aside the Community Centre, it's worth your time and effort to peruse HELP.

In this case: search-type: Pre-Approval: You will see 8 sections.

 

First section: 'What is a pre-approval?'

 

What is a pre-approval?

A pre-approval is a way for host to let guests know that their listing is available when asked about a potential reservation. Once pre-approved, the guest can automatically confirm a booking for the specific dates provided.

Hosts

When you pre-approve a guest’s enquiry, you give them permission to automatically confirm a booking for specific dates. The dates won’t be blocked on your calendar, so you can pre-approve multiple guests at one time.

 

Guests have 24 hours to confirm a booking that has been pre-approved. After 24 hours, the guest can still request to book your listing with the price offered during the pre-approval, unless you remove the pre-approval. You can remove the pre-approval at any time in the message thread.

 

Guests

If a host has sent you a pre-approval, your booking isn’t confirmed until you’ve clicked Book It in the message thread with the host and added your payment information. Hosts can send pre-approvals to many potential guests, so if you’ve found the perfect space, make sure to complete the booking process as soon as possible.

You have 24 hours to accept a pre-approval before it expires. If 24 hours have passed, you can still accept the pre-approval but your host will have to approve your request before your reservation is confirmed.

 

 

@Elen4570  Exactly. A preapproval which does not get taken up by the enquiring guest will not have a negative impact on your ratings and statistics. It will only have a positive affect as it reflects the timing of your response to the guest, and the positive response that you give. It is ok for a guest to enquire about your accommodation and others too at the same time usually. At their end they will be getting  encouragement from Airbnb to contact more than one Host, in case their first enquiry is unsuccessful. The more they check before booking, the better. It should lead to guests eventually learning which listings suit them best. They are not always shopping around for the cheapest deal, there are usually a number of other factors which will directly affect their decision to request a firm booking.

Always put safety and and matching your hosting to the correct travellers and youbwill have less cancellations and a better overall experience.

Above all never accept a booking which you do not feel is a good match, or that you are not willing to 100% commit to. Be professional evaluating guest enquiries, be solid in your commitment and you will be rewarded with lots of responsible, cobsiderate and safe guests.  

Best regards Christine from Wombat's at Glenbrook. 

Elen4570
Level 2
Glendale, CA

@Christine1  When she send me a message with her inquiry first I immediately responded. But as I didn’t know if that’s good to pre approve or not, I  decided to give her a pre-approval only couple of hours later.

 

will this be considered as late response? 

 

p.s she didn’t even respond to my message before the pre-approval

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Elen4570 

 

'HELP' (aka Airbnb 101 )

 

What can I do when I get a booking enquiry?

A booking enquiry is a message from a guest asking about specific dates. Guests who send an enquiry are usually looking for more information before sending a reservation request.

Respond within 24 hours

Be sure to respond to all messages – especially booking enquiries – within 24 hours. Quick responses are one of the best ways to lock in a confirmed reservation, and taking more than 24 hours to respond impacts your response rate.

Options for responding to a booking enquiry
  • Pre-approve the booking: This is the fastest way to get a confirmed reservation. Learn more about pre-approvals.
  • Send a special offer: If you’d like to suggest a different price (higher or lower), other dates, or another listing that’s available, try sending a special offer. Learn more about special offers
  • Send a message: Replying to the guest’s message within 24 hours is another way to maintain your response rate.
  • Decline the booking: You can decline if you’re unable to accommodate the guest. Before you decline, please keep our anti-discrimination policy in mind and review the implications of declining bookings.