Airbnb Blocked Dates on our host calendar

[Chris1384]

Hello all, 

My fiancé and I have been hosting for a year now. Up until the last month or so we have had very little problems with our guests. 

We had had to cancel a reservation of a guest who is staying with us. This is our first time canceling a reservation, ever. 

Airbnb has blocked those dates off of our hosting calendar and asked that we make sure we block off any future dates we aren't able to host (we did not select the "these dates are unavailable" option when canceling. We selected "other").

How do we get these dates unblocked? This is almost a month of our inventory GONE. 

Here is why we canceled: 

Recently we have run into some problems with guests in our home, so are a lot more alert of who is booking and why. 

We had someone Instant book one of our rooms for a little under a month. He told us in his introductory message that he is booking our place for a friend. He said he's known this friend for most of his life, and he is trying to help her out while she gets back on her feet. 

He also said he lives close by, but his profile says he's in California. 

After checking some forums we decided to cancel the reservation and asked him if he could have his friend book the room under their own name and verified information.

We are already cautious about hosting homeless people in our home, and we wondered why if this guy was so trusting and close with this friend of his, why he won't host them in his own home. 

We are very understanding but we are not intending to run a halfway house where people can drop off others to recover. 

Again, the big issue is that we don't know who this person is, and none of their information is verified. This opens us up to a lot of potential problems if something goes wrong in our home. 

THIS WAS NOT A LAST MINUTE CANCELATION: The booking was was set to start a week from now. 

AIRBNB POLICY: 

Transparency and trust are vital to the Airbnb experience. People rely on information in Airbnb profiles, reviews, and other verifications when deciding whether to host or stay with someone.

We require Airbnb reservations booked for personal travel to be booked by the person who's going to stay at the listing.

Any help would be great.  Thanks. 

[Henley0]

Sorry, it sounds like you kind of messed up here. You cancelled a week from your guest's check in, because you decided to change your mind of whether to host them or not. I don't think you'll be able to contest this with Airbnb. It clearly states in Airbnb policy that your calendar will be blocked for the dates you cancel on your guest.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Chris1384,

Welcome to the Community Center. 

I am sorry to hear your concern here regarding your recent guest's booking.

From what you have mentioned, it sounds like you cancelled the booking directly through the Airbnb system, in this case without knowing any background, it would automatically asign it as a general cancellation and therefore assume you are unable to host during this period. Therefore logically, your calendar would be blocked for these dates. 

It sounds though from what you have shared, that this may be a third party booking and so the person who booked with you, isn't the person staying and this is where your concern comes in.

I would recommend contacting our Support Team directly, to discuss this further and they will be able to help you. As you are based in the US, here is a phone number: +1-415-800-5959 / +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free). To add, here is a useful Community Guide which provides a range of different ways to reach them. 

I hope this helps and I hope you get this resolved soon. 

Thanks,
Lizzie