Awaiting verification blocking dates on calendar? What's that all about...

[Amy-and-Brian0]

Never seen this one before but someone has blocked dates on our calendar without actually booking.

Double checked if the listing itself was blocking those dates and yep...no one else can get them, they are blocked from others.

That's a new one...wonder how long they keep the dates blocked from others?

It also propagates to our other, linked sites as "booked"...so no one can get them - including other websites we advertise on.

Neat stuff...

Oh and bonus: there's no possible way for us to do anything about it. We can't deny the booking or message the party or anything. It's just blocked.

Edit to say: here's the response from support:
"We are awaiting Donald to verify his identity."
My question to that was:
"How was he able to block dates off my calendar at all without first verifying his identity?"

Answer:
"..."

[Lynne210]

I have had the same thing happening at the moment , can people do this ? What if other ppl are looking for these dates and can’t book ?

[Katharine-and-Len0]

I've just had the same issue - dates a grayed out however I can see the guest and their name and can see they have had a previous review (so not a brand new guest) so am a bit puzzled!   I have messaged them to let them know they have the dates blocked but I can't confirm the reservation until they take action on their side (which hopefully Airbnb has let them know about) and will see what happens.    I will update once it resolves in case it helps others.  

[Katharine-and-Len0]

My promised update - this guest retracted their booking request so it all got cancelled within 24 hrs.  Interestingly I had another booking come through for a brand new guest which was initially the same (awaiting verification) and then got confirmed before I could even respond (about 30 minutes).    So I can't shed any light on how long it would hold for but can confirm these things do sometimes resolve themselves!

[Alon1]

@Katharine-and-Len0 

I experienced this for the first time a few months ago. The Guest had previous reviews, but was not fully verified. 

Airbnb introduced this additional verification following the shooting in Orinda, California on Halloween night, 2019. 

I phoned Customer Services and was initially informed it can take up to 24 hours for verification. In the follow up email it was revised to 12 hours. -- In the event it only took an hour or two. Guest was verified and booking request went through.

I suggested to the CS that it would be more appropriate for Airbnb to undertake verification before permitting Guest to contact host let alone send a Reservation Request, precisely because it blocks the calendar for anyone else to book, notably anyone who is already verified! 

CS replied 'it's a great idea' and she would forward it to appropriate team.

  I had no expectation anything would come of it. 

[Pier-Silverio0]

For anybody who will read this in the future: deal with it. I tried EVERYTHING, and in years of attempts, I can easily say I found ZERO solutions to this problem, and lost hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in missed bookings. Nice.

I just consider the "grey thingy" as a "risk" included in the Airbnb business model. It's completely and utterly unnecessary, but here we are (and have been for years).

[Alon1]

@Pier-Silverio0 

I find your comment a bit of an exaggeration. 

Your profile shows you have only hosted 18 months; and this "grey thingy" was introduced last October following the shooting in Orlinda, California.

However, prior to it, there was 'Pending Verification' in the same colour as 'Request to Book'.

Though 'pending verification' was only for new Guests who did not have a booking record.

The "grey thingy" has replaced it for those who are not fully verified. Still, it seems random as it's not applied to every Guest who has not loaded an ID.

Lastly, as I noted to the CS, it's not simply 'unnecessary', but detrimental to both Hosts & Airbnb, as it blocks the calendar for anyone who is fully verified. 

[Sherry346]

I find your comments a bit of an exaggeration as well.

"Your profile shows you have only hosted 18 months...."

We can get used to feeling like we can make a judgement of someone's worthiness to participate in a community forum like this, or trust them as a guest, based on years showing on the platform ID - however before you check mine to invalidate what I am saying - People move, buy and sell homes, work as co-hosts, team members, consultants, house cleaners become on site managers, and those years are not there for you to factor into their contribution to the conversation.

I am in year 7 participating in various functions learning about and supporting the Airbnb platform. I am 80 years old. I agree with the spirit of @Pier-Silverio0 's post.

I loved ABB for 6 of those years. Now, not so much. This issue is #1 reason why.

[Gordon187]

@Alon1 

All ideas from hosts are "great ideas". Doesn't that make you feel good? 😉

[Mustafa--Mufty-0]

Joining the conversation here. I'm new to hosting and in fact just doing it for a month. As one can imagine, I'm bit suspicious to all this. 

Just received a message saying "awaiting verification"  and the user profile is indeed bit suspicious. No ID provided, no profile photo, no profile text and joined  Feb 2020.

I'm curious if the reservation will go through but,I thinking, even if Airbnb allows the reservation, this is not a situation I'm really comfortable with. So I guess, as annoying as this situation is to most of us, it does work somehow...

[Wendy684]

I've just posted a new post about this then found this one. I have someone trying to book right now. nothing suspicious, they are new to air bnb and having trouble getting Airbnb to upload and accept their government id. I have heard much the same story from other guests who have had a real headache booking with the system. I understand a need for a more secure verification however something isn't working if it is that hard for guests to upload. 

what really concerns me is that he wants to stay tonight and first messaged just 2 hrs ago (been trying for 2 hrs now to sort out his problem with Airbnb and still not booked). although I have IB I don't allow it for stays of less than 48 hrs notice. he gave me 1hr notice. but Airbnb have not given me a. chance to decline the booking request  instead they have blocked my calendar. it seems I cannot even decline it until it is verified. this is wrong. this means even non IB rooms can be blocked out 

it is now 9.45pm and it still isn't sorted. 

[Jenni-and-Robert0]

This actually happened to me yesterday.  The room is blocked for 12 hours and I have no control over it. I was absolutely god smacked that this can happen. Airbnb is losing hosts potential earnings.... come on, no small business can afford this. Please start looking after your hosts, listening to then and helping them with Airbnb problems. There are so many platforms we can otherwise use. They need to realise they no longer have a strong hold on the home rental market.

Start looking after your hosts as well as you look after your guests.......

[Alon1]

@Jenni-and-Robert0 

re. '... so many platforms we can otherwise use....;

I see you are live-in hosts (like me). So I wonder what are all these other platforms?

Please name them, because other than Couch-Surfing, to the best of my knowledge they don't exist!

Wimdu did for a few years, and that's about it. 

[Glenn55]

booking.com and vrbo. I use them because of the horrible policy of airbnb I was a loyal host until I started to lose revenue and the customer service reps did not care as if our revenue does not pay their salary

[Sarah977]

@Glenn55  Vrbo does not list home-shares. Not an option for hosts who don't have entire house listings.

[Glenn55]

Then do booking. Cannot let Airbnb control your revenue