Preventing same day check out/check ins

[Ela18]

I’d like to block the full day that I already have guests booking in. Airbnb allows you to auto block out the day BEFORE (or after) you have guests already booked in, but then I lose a day of income. The flip side when I turn that function off, is that airbnb allows people to auto-book into the day that I already have guests booked - meaning I have to do a changeover on that day. I want people to be able to check out the day before so I have a night to do a changeover, but it currently doesn’t allow it and airbnb keep responding that this function is not currently available. Does this issue bother anyone else?

[Kathie21]

I don't understand your problem.  Blocking 1 day before & after means you have 1 night empty between each guest. That's what I do - guest leaves today, new guest arrives tomorrow.  Isn't that what you want?

[Ela18]

Thanks Kathie, my concern was that if I have guests booked on the 5th-7th, it was blocking out the 4th, and I thought that meant no-one could book to check out on the 4th, (ie a 2nd-4th booking), I thought that meant they could only check out on the 3rd.

Thanks for clarifying. Feeling stupid now! 

[Kathie21 · Accepted solution]

As usual, sloppy terminology by Airbnb - if they said 'block 1 NIGHT before' it would be much clearer!

[Sarah977]

@Ela18  Yes, actually the function blocks one night before and after each guest. Which is stupid to me. All I need is one night after (or before, but not both) each guest to turn it over. The way Airbnb has it set up is totally illogical, as is much of their platform. 

[Kathie21]

But the night that it blocks after guest A is the same night that it blocks before guest B.  So it works the way it should.

[David3148]

this is not the case - it blocks out both the day before and the day after so we do indeed lose a day of income. I want to avoid check-in/out on same day but only need one night free in between not two.

[Sarah977]

@David3148 This has been bugging me for a long time- prep means BEFORE, not after. But I think Kathy is right. Guest A books the night of the 1st through the night of the 5th. From Guest A's check-out time on the 6th, the calendar is blocked until check-in time on the 7th. Guest B can book the night of the 7th, the prep time for that reservation overlaps the "day after" prep time from Guest A's reservation.

If there was no day blocked after a reservation, that would mean that Guest B could book the 6th, as your calendar would appear open for the 6th, which would mean same-day check-in, check-out.

Not sure if this is correct, I find it quite confusing, but this is what I figured out recently.

[Christian784]

@Sarah977 @David3148 

Sarah, I think there is a misunderstanding, I have the same issue as David. I need just 1 night free of booking for cleaning, when the guest has left. And not no check-in and after 1 one full day. And that is the case provided by the system.

Example guest A booking Mon-Wed (leaving noon):

a) Case no preparation time: guest B can check-in on Wed after 3 pm (I want to avoid).

b) Case preparation time 1 before AND 1 day after (provided by Airbnb): guest B can check-in on Fri after 3 pm (loosing 1 day).

c) Case my favourite: guest B can check in Thu 3 pm.

So if you have an idea, how I can manage case c) please tell me. Thanks in advance.

[Christian784]

@Sarah977 @David3148 

I have to apologize, it seems it's working the way I want. Except the case that there is no solution to differ between weekdays and weekend.

Example:  check-out Mon-Thu preparation time 1 day needed, check-out Fri-Sun no time needed.

Any solution idea?

[John1080]

This isn't exactly the same topic, but related, so thought I'd tag it onto this thread.  

My cleaning staff cannot get to my place to clean until 3 or 4:00 in the evening every other Monday, so I need to block a Monday check in every other Monday, but I want to keep the other every other Monday open for Monday check-ins. 

Anyone know how to do this? I know how to block every Monday, but only need it to be every other. Up until this point, if I have someone checking out on the Sunday before one of these Mondays, I just manually block the Monday. My fear is that someone will come in and book a Monday-whenever, which would mean I would not be able to get a booking for the previous Fri-Sun.  However, I don't want to block every Monday for the full day, as that would prevent someone from booking say Friday-Tuesday. 

Any ideas? 

[Terri165]

Was Kathie correct? I am new to this and I am afraid I may have people bumping into each other. However I dont want to lose a entire day. Thanks

[Carol609]

Blocking the day before and after is the same thing. If you have a guest stayng Monday and Tuesday, Sunday and Wednesday are blocked. New guest comes Thursday and Friday so Wednesday and Saturday are blocked. the same day is blocked before or after. That being said you can manually go in and unblock any single dates without it interrrupting your regular day before and after blocking.

Does this make sense.

[Sarah977]

@Christian784 @Terri165 @Carol609   I'll try to simplify this so you understand (and it took me 2 years to figure this out). When you choose "Block one day before and after" it does NOT mean you will lose the potential for 2 night's booking. The before and after days overlap.

Guest A books Tues. and Wed. night. Checks out Thursday. Thursday will show as blocked on your calendar, meaning that no guest will be able to book for a Thursday night stay. Giving you 24 hours to prepare for Guest B (from Thursday check out time to Friday check-in time) who can book Friday, checking in on Friday and staying Friday night.

Guest B checks out Sat. Sat. night (Sat. check-in) will be blocked. Guest C will see Sat. blocked and will be able to book Sunday. 

The one day after block for Guest A is also the one day before block for Guest B. The one day after block for Guest B is also the one day before block for Guest C.

So, in fact, checking "Block one day before and after" effectively only blocks one day between reservations, not 2.

I hope I managed to explain that clearly.

[Candy6]

I have a related question.  I would like to allow guests to arrive/depart on the same day, so I don't need any time blocked for that.  However, I do not want a guest to be able to book a stay on the day of arrival without first asking me if that is okay, because I have to see if the cleaning staff is available on such short notice.  As long as they have a bit of notice, a quick change is not a problem.  But same day arrival can pose a problem.  I had a listing on Air BNB a few years ago, and it seems like there was a way to do that, but I can't remember or figure it out now.