Preparation time

Cathy224
Level 2
Athens, Greece

Preparation time

How do I indicate only one night after a booking for preparation time? This option does not seem available. It is either NONE, so there is no time to clean, or 1 night before AND after, meaning 2 nights. I just lost a booking for this reason. Airbnb had blocked 2 nights between bookings, so dates requested were no longer available.

 

Thanks.

19 Replies 19
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hello @Cathy224 ,

When reservation (A) is made, and only the night BEFORE is blocked, it means the next (still to book)  reservation (B) can check-in on the same date when A will check-out. So no preparation time for B

 

When reservation (A) is made, and only the night AFTER it is blocked, it means an earlier (still to book) reservation (B) can check-out on the same date when A will check-in. So no preparation time for B

 

So that's why the night before AND after the reservation need to blocked, to be prevent checking in/out will be ever on the same day, which means :  not giving you the preparation time you want.

 

Best regard,Emiel

James522
Level 3
Springfield, PA

Agree. Makes me no sense. We need the option to just block the day after. I believe I've lost business because of this approach, yet I don't want to go below 1 day, unless I know I have cleaned up. 

 

I've often removed the block on the day of departure, but not until I have cleaned. 

 

I never need the day ahead, and yet someone thinks they are smarter than me. 

Josh194
Level 2
Richmond, CA

Does anybody know if the Preparation Time will overlap with the booking before and after?  I don't want a 2-day gap between guests.

 

Thanks!

@Josh194 you are one of many, many hosts who wish there was some choice other than same-day turnovers, and a 2-day gap.

I remember hearing some mathematical explanation about why the system has to have a day-before AND a day-after gap, but I don't remember where.

 

As I understand it, it is either a 2-day gap, or allow same day check-in after a check-out. (Or, of course, 4-day gaps.)

 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Josh194@Matthew285   I can't imagine how this makes any sense. I wish you could find the "mathematical explanation", Matthew, I'd love to see it. I never take same day bookings, but I certainly don't need a day after a guest leaves to clean, just the day before. If every booking has a day blocked out before the booking, you'd always have a day to clean between guests. 

@Cathy224 @Josh194 @James522 @Matthew285

As soon as I get a confirmed booking, I go to the calendar and manually block the day before check in and the day of check out, at a minimum. Like many other hosts, I wish we had an option of opting out of same day check out/check ins but as mentioned it's either a 2 day gap or no gap. I tend to get longer term guests so in these cases, I usually just block 2~3 days before and after.

Jae27
Level 1
New York, NY

I actually wish we could block a longer time for prep - like 4-5 days.  Since we have a larger space we clean and just in case the previous Guest might of left damages or something we have to fix. 

Amy2033
Level 2
Portland, OR

I  changed my setting to have no days blocked and I am going to try manually blocking a day before as soon as someone books. I too have lost bookings because of this. My status change did not take effect though. Has anyone else had this? I changed it at lease a month ago and my booking today shows the two days blocked out. 😞

@Amy2033  It's confusing, but you don't understand how this works. You don't need to block manually. 1 day prep time setting only blocks 1 night between bookings, not 2.

 

The blocked night after a booking doubles up as the night before the next booking. 

 

Guest's check out day is the 1st.

Night of the first will be blocked (one day after block) , no one can book it.

Other guests can book to check in on the 2nd. 

Night of the 1st is also the one day before block.

 

 

Hi Sarah, Thank you! I assumed that is what air bnb did, was to use the day after as the day before as well. I had a different experience. Now that I think on it more it may have appeared that way to me since I have a minimum 4 day booking setting. Perhaps that is where I am getting confused. 

I wonder why they don't just call it a one day prep time before. 

I hope you're right. I'll turn it back on then. 

 

love Sayulita. 🙂 Mine is in Mérida. 

Hi @Sarah977 , Thank you! I assumed that is what air bnb did, was to use the day after as the day before as well. I had a different experience. Now that I think on it more it may have appeared that way to me since I have a minimum 4 day booking setting. Perhaps that is where I am getting confused. 

I wonder why they don't just call it a one day prep time before. 

I hope you're right. I'll turn it back on then. 

 

love Sayulita. 🙂 Mine is in Mérida. 

 

Hi @Sarah977 , 

 

I see you are a very experienced host. I have one more question/scenario for you if you have a few minutes to respond. Thank you in advance. 

 

I would like for a guest to be able to check out on, say a Monday, and the next guest to check in on the next day, Tuesday.

 

If I check the prep time it seems that the second guest would not be able to check in until Wednesday. Is that correct? 

 

I feel like it is high school all over.. If a train leaves the station at.... 🙂 

Thank you.

amy

 

@Amy2033 Check out on Monday and check in on Tuesday is one day prep time. It will block Monday night from being booked.

 

Don't feel dense- it's Airbnb's wording that confuses the issue. It should say "Block one night between bookings" not "Block one night before and after each booking". It took me a year to understand how prep time setting works.

As a fellow lover of living in Mexico...THANK YOU.