Why do guests ask about availability when it is on my calendar?

[Lenore2]

I get inquiries asking if my unit is abailable on certain dates. Why does this happen? All the available dates are clearly marked on my calendar. Thanks.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

First of all the calendar is not reliable - plenty of hosts report dates blocking and unblocking randomly (it happens to us on a regular basis). We never take a booking without manually checking the calendar because of this.

Second: some hosts only actively manage their calendar for immediate bookings, so potential guests just want to check it is accurate.

[Marie3]

Unfortunatly there are many hosts who do not keep their calendars up to date. I travel a lot with Airbnb as well as host and frequently an open date on the calendar does not result in a reservation. Numerous times I have been told that the room is not available even though it is open on the calendar. Now maybe there was something in my profile they didn't like, or they just like to leave dates open and decide at the last minute if they want to host?? My guess is that these guests have had this happen and they are verifing that it is indeed open. 

Marie

[Till-and-Jutta0]

Even if the calendar is open, I try to make some conversation to my host prior to booking. Just to see how he communicates. And if I have no specific question, I just ask for confirmation about the availability.

[Dede0]

@Lenore2 The requestors are probably not unclear about availability. Instead, they're submitting what are called Pre-Approval Inquiries rather than straightforward Booking Requests. The latter commit the guest to pay if you accept; the former just mean that you might pre-approve their inquiry, leaving them with the option of accepting or declining. The type of guests that submit those inquiries (rather than simple Booking Requests) tend to be "window shoppers". They submit the same inquiry to more than one rental in a given area, see how many acceptances they receive, and then choose the one they want.

Again, this probably has NOTHING to do with them not understanding the calendar.

[David3324]

I'm interested in buying a house in an up-and-coming location to be used for AirBnB. I check the calendar availability and see that either all future months are booked (greyed out) and yet other properties are all available.  Is the Airbnb calendars accurate? or do the owner just make future days unavailable in order to appear the place is fully booked to attract customers? 

Thanks

[Sarah977]

@David3324  There can be many reasons why a calendar shows blocked dates. It can be that they are booked for guests, it can be that the host blocked them off because friends or family are coming to visit and stay in the unit, or that the host is going away on vacation or for work themselves. Not all hosts are off-site hosts with a property that is purely for the purpose of Airbnbing and making as much money as possible with an open calendar for all potential guests year-round.

[Sarah977]

@David3324 Also hosts can choose a booking window. I only accept bookings 3 months in advance because I don't want to be locked into having to be around for a booking 5 months from now, in case I decide to go on holiday or something else comes up in my life. So anything past 3 months from today will be greyed out.

If a host blocked off days just to appear full, no one would be able to book those days- it wouldn't make sense.