Requested to book, date passed, still showing accept/decline...

[Tommy150]

Good Morning!

I am new to all this and recently ran into a situation I haven't yet.

Typically, due to my work schedule, I have the "block one day before and after reservation" option on to ensure I have time to flip the unit.  I also use the "1 day advance notice for booking."

Long story short, I had a friend of a friend come into town who wanted to book my place just for the evening to sleep and catch a plane in the morning.  I had to shut off the options in order for it to work.  I neglected to turn them back on immediately (my fault, I know...)

At any rate, yesterday evening I received a booking request for yesterday - July 18th, one night, checking out July 19th.

I messaged him back immediately and apologized explaining I was unable to accommodate him on such short notice and it was my fault.  Now, the "check in" date has already past - yet it's still showing as "accept or decline" with 7 hours left.  In this case, shouldn't this automatically (or  will it after my check out time) disappear as an unavailable or will I ultimately have to click decline?

Anyone who may have run into this, i'd appreciate your input. 

[Ana1136]

@Tommy150 you shouldn't let the time for requests pass ( inquiries and requests are different) because you won't be able to maintain your response rate which is important. You should click decline. Also in the future, when a guest requests to book and you are not able to accommodate a request you should ask the guest to remove the request because you don't want to decline too many guests too. If you are dealing with an inquiry, you only need to answer, no need to accept or decline.

[Tommy150]

Hi Ana, Thanks for the quick info.

I am definitely aware of response rate and decline rate - I have been ensuring I answer inquires or most requests within an hour or so, if not even faster -- in minutes even.

The only reason I was curious about this one is the 7hours left to accept/decline will surpass the checkin/checkout of the request, so you you'd think by default Airbnb would mark as "dates no longer available"

I actually did ask him to withdraw in my message back to him, I also offered to help him locate one more suitable for the area he was needing (he was looking to bring his son in to visit a college and I don't think he looked at the neighborhoods either - as my listing was not the most convenient location for this college.) - However, I never received a response.

Appreciate all the info! 🙂