Block one day after end of reservation

[Laura2270]

I would like to block one day after each guest.  I'm tired of having to rush to get the room turned over if I have two bookings back to back, but the only option ABB has is to block one day before AND one day after (or two each).  I don't need two days to bookend the listing, just one day between any two bookings.

Is there a way to do that without having to go into my calendar and manually block days by hand?  If someone cancels and I don't see it to unblock the day before it's too late, then I might lose out on a new guest.

[Sarah977]

@Laura2270  It took me a long time to figure this out, but the one day before and after actually doesn't block 2 days from being booked between reservations, only one. Set your availability to one day before and after. You don't have to block or unblock manually. This is what will happen:

Guest books the night of the 2nd-night of the 8th, checking out on the 9th.

The 1st will be blocked to give you prep time for that guest.

The 9th will be blocked to give you time before the following reservation to clean. 

But a guest can book the 10th, which is what you want.

The blocked night of the 9th (the day after) also becomes the blocked night for the reservation on the 10th (the day before).

It doesn't block 2 nights in a row from being booked, only one.

[Ann72]

@Sarah977 is right, but I'm with you, @Laura2270, in wishing it would just block the day/night at the end of the reservation.  Surely it would serve the same purpose?  If some checks in on the 6th and checks out on the 9th, no one can check in until the 10th.  But also, no one could book to check in on the 2nd and check out on the 6th if the end-of-stay block was in place - they'd have to check out on the 5th.  And so on.

Mine are set to block one day before and one day after, but I go in and rummage around in the calendar and remove some of those if there's already space between bookings.  I was glad I did that this year for 4th of July weekend - someone had booked 7/1-7/3, and I thought it would prevent anyone else from booking for the holiday weekend, so I opened up the 3rd (and got a booking within the hour).  Now we have a 1-day turnover, but it doesn't happen too often, so it's bearable.

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  It does just block the day/night at the end of the reservation. The before or after blocks overlap. The "day after" doubles as the "day before" the next reservation. It took me 2 years to wrap my head around this and understand it. If a host doesn't want back-to-back bookings and want a day between reservations, that's exactly what the one day before and after prep time does. Like most things Airbnb, they don't explain it at all.

[Laura2270]

Ok, so I've set mine for 1 day.  My calendar changed so that there's a blocked day both before and after my current bookings.  If I understand it correctly, when someone books dates that the blocked date will overlap it'll be just a single day between an existing booking and the new booking.

Thanks for the info!  I really appreciate it. 

[Sarah977]

@Laura2270 @Ann72  As per usual, Airbnb seems unable to explain or word the simplest things in a way that doesn't lead to confusion. What that setting should really say is "Block one day between reservations", because that, in fact, is what happens when you set "block one day before and after".

[Ann72]

@Laura2270 @Sarah977  It actually does block the day before and the day after.  Here's a screenshot of two reservations on my calendar.  Sometimes I go in and unblock the "preparation time" days, but I didn't do that here, or add them:

[Laura2270]

It sounds like what happens is that it blocks both, but if someone wants to book the up to the day before, it doesn't require two days between bookings, those two block days merge into a single day.  

[Sarah977]

@Ann72 Yes, it does. But what I'm saying is that an "after" block can also double as a "before" block for a following reservation. 

Guest A books the 2nd to check-out on the 6th, The 1st and the 6th will be blocked on my calendar, no one can book those nights. 

Guest B sees the 6th blocked, but the 7th as available. 

The "day after" block for Guest A is also the "day before" block for Guest B.

The way it is described seems to any logical person that if they use that setting, 2 days in a row will be blocked-  1 day after for Guest A and another 1 day before for Guest B. 

Now, if I have a week between bookings, say the 2nd to check-out on the 6th, then the 13th to the 20th, it will appear on my calendar that the 6th is blocked and also the 12th. But Guest C can slide in there and book the night of the 7th to check out on the 12th. Leaving one day between bookings, not two.

If Airbnb just worded it to say "Block one day between reservations", it would work exactly like it does now, but would eliminate the confusion.

[Ann72]

@Sarah977 Oh, I see what you mean!!  Yes, you are absolutely right, and that's what you can see on that screenshot.  If only one booking had appeared, it would have day before/day after blocked.  But when they're contiguous, the after runs into the before of the next one.