Rescind Airbnb's policy of blocking reservation dates on expired Reservation Requests

[Clare0]

Many hosts get penalized for not officially Accepting or Declining Reservaion Requests because they are involved in on-going conversation with guests who should have used the Contact Host link to begin with. Blocking the host's calendar is unproductive and causes extra work for the host and Airbnb who ultimately has to unblock the dates.   This is especially true in cases where the host and the guest are in different time zones. 

Penalize the host if you want with a low response rating, but blocking the reservation dates just causes confusion and aggravation especially when ultimately the guest wants to book the space but can't because the dates are now blocked. 

Clare

[Dede0]

Agreed, 100%! This has basically forced me to decline guests (before the clock runs out on me) who are slow to respond, probably because they're at work or are halfway around the world. The last time this happened to me, minutes before the deadline, I was typing my "I'm sorry  but..." message when the guest finally responded to my earlier question.

Perhaps if AirBnB wants to retain a time-out clock, they might consider shifting it to 36 or 48 hours.

[Clare0]

I'd keep the clock at 24 hours since guest's credit cards have authorization holds when they make a Reservation Request and they are "locked in" until the hosts Accepts or Declines and they can't look elsewhere in the meantime.  

I just want the dates not to be blocked as I think it's unfair to both hosts and guests.  

Penalize by response rate, not by blocking dates!

[Flora12]

Airbnb says I have not responded to reservation requests in the required timeframe, when in fact I have already responded with two

e-mails but the inquirer has not acknowledged my accept or decline.

This is not my fault and I am tired of being told I have not responded

when in fact I have responded. This is ridiculous and redundent and

wrong!!!!!

[Clare0]

@Flora12 Responding to Inquiries satisfies the response requirements.  You have to decide to Accept or Decline Reservation Requests for the reasons I stated above.  Just answering or asking  a question on a Reservation Request does not constiture a response. 

[Helen56]

Airbnb should not penalise hosts at all for not accepting/declining within 24 hrs.  Sometimes we are corresponding with the potential guest, and as stated above, time zone issues make response time longer.  Hosts should not be penalised - losing a guest is the 'punishment' . Just post the respose times, but don't penalise us in other ways.

[Helen56]

Perhaps just make the request to book expire after 24 hours. No one is penalised, the host's calendar opens up, and the guest can try somewhere esle.