It is wonderful that we can set a minimum number of nights for guests -- especially for specific dates. However, it is unclear how this works, exactly. Does anyone know?
Let me pose an example:
I set a minimum night stay of 5 nights from the period of December 20 - 26. I want to be away visiting my family over the Winter Solstics and Christmas and don't want to have to come home to change up my guest rooms over the holiday.
If I set this minimum, can two guests end up booking the same room during this period, anyway? That is, one guest stays for five nights from December 19 - 24. Then another guest books from December 24 - 29? I'm guessing that my minimum stay requirement does not prevent this.
If that is the case, then I would need to block this listing on December 19 or 20, so that a guest must arrive after I leave on holiday. However, then another guest might come along and book from December 26 - 31 -- leaving my guest rooms empty for most of hte time I am away! So I would need to block off ANOTHER date on the calendar, on December 26 or 27, in addition to setting a minimum number of nights, or this alternative situation might happen.
Am I correct about my suppositions as to how this works? Does anyone know?
I'm guessing that I am. Which in the end makes the minimum number of nights feature useful but also a bit problematic.
What would solve this problem -- I think -- would be a checkbox that, if checked, requires that a guest both arrives and departs during this window. So in addition to setting a "mininmum nights" you basically can tell AirBnB "one booking only during these dates, please". We might need a verification that this is what we intend, as you might select "July - August" by accident with a 3 night minimum and then only get one guest for two months. But for shorter term "specific dates" sorts of requirements, this option would be MOST helpful.
Then I wouldn't have to worry about blocking dates on either end of the window.
