Booking gaps between bookings that are less than minimum days

Robert913
Level 2
Dallas, TX

Booking gaps between bookings that are less than minimum days

I had to open an account with HomeAway to fill in the blank spots that Airbnb could not do. This means Airbnb is losing money and I am having to do more coordination.  Let me explain as I am sure many others have the same problem.  I have a 4 day minimum on my listing.  When guests reserve there are often caps in between reservations that are equal to or less than 4 days.  These can't be booked so I can't make any money during those blank spots.  The first bug that I reported which has not been resolved is that if someone wants to book in one of the 4 day spots,  my condo will not appear in the result.  This is because Airbnb sees a day that a guest is checking out as reserved when it is not.  My check out is 12 noon and check in is 3 pm.  Therefore someone could book that day but Aribnb won't allow it.  The 2nd problem is gaps with less than 4 days, my minimum.  Those do not show in searches because of my 4 day minimum. I would like the capability to adjust the minimum for those days only.  My suggestion is to allow the minimum to be changed just for those particular blank spots days.  This could be accomplished in the same way you can adjust the price for those particular days.  You paint the days and then to the right where you can block or change the price, Airbnb could add a field for a new minimum.  My workaround was to open an account with HomeAway and allow people to book in those gaps.

14 Replies 14
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hello @Robert913 ,

You can set custom minimum stay in section "trip lenght" under "Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates".  it is not my experience  Airbnb sees the the check-out date as a reserved date (date is also available on your calender, unless you have set some option like "preparation time" to 1 day). I think there are many hosts here who have guests departing/arriving on the same day.

Best regards, Emiel

Yes. I do this all the time.  I wish it was built into the calendar dates directly, but it is not.  I also sometimes lower the price on the intermediate dates just to get an extra booking if I am able to turn the place around.  As @Emiel1 said, you also need  to reduce the prep time needed to turn over the space and minimum days needed ahead of arrival.  

Custom minimum stay requirements only let you set minimums on days of week, like Mondays, Tuesdays etc.  It does not let you set them for particular dates which is what I need.  For example June 3, 4 and 5 maybe open but I can't set 2 day minimum to those dates.  

Not sure if it's changed since this was posted, but you can definitely change the minimum stay for exact dates. It's not super user friendly as it's not built right into the calendar view, but definitely possible.

Steve143
Level 10
Limerick, Ireland

Hello @Robert913,

 

I'm usually booked out with one night stays so almost every day someone checks out and someone else checks in.

 

As @Emiel1 mentioned you should check the "Preparation time" setting under "Availability" on your calendar. Set that to "None" if you want to allow checkin on the same day as a previous guest checks out.

 

Steve.

thanks, yes the preparation time is set to none

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Robert913

If you have gap days that are shorter than your minimum stay, you can set a different minimum stay for specific dates. BUT there is a glitch in the calendar that may affect you. After the settings, do try to book your own place to see what it all looks like.

Robert913
Level 2
Dallas, TX

thanks, but I don't see anywhere you can do that

Hello @Robert913,

 

In the "Trip length" section under "Availability" click on the "Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates" link.

Then cllick on the "During" box and choose "Specific dates".

Now set a start date and end date to cover the gap dates and set a minimum nights' stay in the "Minimum stay" box.

That will set the minimum stay for a checkin on each of those dates.

 

Regarding checkin and checkout on the same day do you have a checkin on the 24th of May? I see that it's unavailable on your calendar but there's no way to know from the calendar whether it's simply blocked or is unavailable due to a checkin. I just tried a booking for checkin on the 21st and checkout on the 24th of May and it shows that as possible.

 

Steve.

Lou-and-Keith0
Level 2
Bernards, NJ

Thanks Steve! This setting is hiden so deep. 

Another question, is there a way we can set rate for each day of a week, then make it apply to all future calendar?

 

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Steve143  - added the tag there for you @Lou-and-Keith0 

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Please follow the Community Guidelines 

@Lou-and-Keith0 

 

This quite easy if you select the date in question  (on the iPhone app) the screen should appear similaly to the photo above. Here, you can manually change to whatever rate you want for that or those dates but not all. 

Hope this works for you- have a great day! 

Yadira 🙂

 

902A43C8-CDB4-4C18-ADC2-85A5A2F437FD.png

 

Giorgos19
Level 1
Heraklion, Greece

Minimum nights bypass possible in Airbnb as follows:

 

Go to your listing / Availability / Trip length > Edit / click ''Add a requirement'' > under ''During'' drop down menu choose ''specific dates'' , set your dates / under ''Minimum stay'' set number of minimum nights / save

 

Cheers from Crete!

Costa15
Level 1
New York, United States

You can add requirements of minimum nights for specific dates where you have gaps, the option is there, but the listing still doesn't show, I guess the generic mimum rights overrides it, so the special dates requirement change is good for nothing