Double booked After instant book reservation and then request to book confirmed for same dates

[Shannon88]

I just had a frustrating experience with Airbnb regarding 2 guests trying to book at the same time. One instant booked before the other request to book came through but Airbnb still showed the dates as available for the second guest request. It came through over night and I co-host 16 different places so when I saw the request to book I assumed the dates were available (since Airbnb was allowing the request for those dates) so I confirmed the second booking unaware the dates were already booked. They weren’t but Airbnb still let them go through. 

I called airbnb immediately and they were less than helpful when I suggested they shouldn’t have kept the dates available for the second request since the dates were booked. It seems like a glitch in Airbnb’s system since the goal is to not double book. I was told I should have double checked my calendar for this booking for April 2020 to make sure they were actually available. Airbnb even sent me an email saying I needed to accept or decline this double booking reservation request or I would be penalized - even though the dates were already booked through Airbnb!

I was on my mobile app and checking the calendar is difficult now since it does not show the calendar month requested in the details any more. It was very helpful when it did but now it’s clunky and I can’t see the reservation info if I do click through to see the calendar and I have to scroll to the exact date instead of it automatically taking me there. Regardless, isn’t the management of bookings and availability Airbnb’s purpose here? 

Has as anyone else run into issues like these? If not, beware! I’ve been using this platform for 3 years and NOTHING like this has ever happened before but the Airbnb tech made it clear this was my error not Airbnb’s. I’m still waiting to hear back from a supervisor because the person I spoke with wasn’t much help and was more concerned with assigning blame than looking into correcting a technical issue that I’m sure has and will affect other hosts and guests. 

Signed,

incredibly Frustrated

[Ana1136]

@Shannon88 it can't possibly be your error since the platform shouldn't allow two bookings for the same date for the same property to go through. Call again and find another representative who will be more helpful. 

[Shannon88]

Thank you @Ana1136  I am still waiting to hear back from a supervisor. Hopefully this glitch is being worked on so other hosts don’t run into the same issue and the rep I dealt with is getting some additional customer service training. 

[Lisa723]

Seconding @Ana1136 this is an Airbnb bug, not host error. The platform must ensure double-booking is impossible. Good luck.