calendar automatically opening up despite manual blocking :(

[Berglind-Bjork0]

 I had long ago manually blocked some dates for guests that stayed with me last year and booked for this time a whole year in advance (for the Iceland Airwaves music festival).  It seems the airbnb calendar automatically opened these dates up without me noticing, probably as I have the setting where you cannot book more than 3 months in advance 😞   Someone was able to book them using instant book but I had no choice but to cancel as I had promised these other people a year in advance.   Now I have to accept the penalties and have lost my superhost status and all the days are blocked even though only some of them were unavailable.  I can't risk that happening again so I am disabling instant book.  I guess I just have to accept the penalties as there is no airbnb contact info for me to explain anything to airbnb. They only send you a form for that if people have to cancel due to extenuating circumstances (don't even know what that means, but it said death in the family and other such options so I didn't dare pick that one) 

😞 I'm so sad, both for the people that booked (I cancelled within 10 minutes of getting the reservation though) and for losing my nice superhost badge

[Mike77]

@Berglind-Bjork0

"...there is no airbnb contact info for me to explain anything to airbnb."

Call AirBnB or make your complaint public on AirBnB's Facebook page.

Mike
AirBnB Treehouse for Rent
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7292887

"Coming soon to a bookstore near you: The Quotable Host by Mike" -- @Sandra
"Guests neither scare nor intrigue me--and I'm ALL about the money!" -- @C C

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[Dede0]

@Berglind-Bjork0 You're correct about the 3-month booking limit causing what you're experiencing. Dates three months in advance of the current date will be made available, day by day, even if you've gone in, played around, and then manually blocked the dates again.

The way to avoid this is to go to your calendar, then click on Availability Settings near the upper right. In the field labeled Booking Window, set it to "Dates unavailable by default".

Once that's set, dates won't open on your calendar unless *you* open them.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

It's one of the well known bugs in the system. Calendar will block and unblock dates at will. It does it on our calendar at least once a month. It's why we always double check dates before accepting a booking, We don't use IB, but that is for another reason, but a dodgy calendar is just another reason not to use IB as you then have to sort out the mess.