Expired inquiry or booking blocks dates

[Amit2]

I just discovered that when an airbnb inquiry or a booking request expires, Airbnb blocks the dates for us without any option on our side as hosts to unblock them which is absurd - Regardless if you have corresponded with the guset within(!) 24 hours.

When I called airbnb they said that this is due to travelleres who complained hosts do not decline the request. But the websites algorithym should "know" which host corresponds with a guest and who doesnt answer, or if for instance I am asking the guest if he would like me to keep him posted and the guests agrees to that. 

But the main problem is the locked dates I can not unblock. When that happens even the guest that was initally interested can not rebook the dates he wanted after we discussed all the details or I have a chance to answer all of he's questions. 

Once some dates within a certain month or period are blocked without any option to unblock them, airbnb looses it's financial adavantage Vs. just subetting. 

Did anyone else exprienced the same issue of dates blocked without the option to unblock them due to expried booking or inquiries ? 

[Amit2]

Did anyone else expriences the same issue? 

[Nicole50]

is this new? and how did you call airbnb? I've just been sent an email by airbnb that tells me my dates would be blocked but I'm still corresponding with a potential guest about my condo rules, and I haven't heard back from the potential guest. I like to screen my guests and I dont like to accept reservations blindly, so where does that leave us if the dates get blocked permanently? Where can we complain about this? If the guests have complained about this, maybe we should as well.

[Amit2]

Nicole I am sorry _ I didnt see a notification for these posts. If you live in the states you can google thier number and I will write here in case it is not erased 855-424-7262. I understand what you say about guests complaining as well and one of my guests actually did complain.

[Lindsay15]

Hi,

Thanks for posting the Air BnB number.  I had the same issue, I let a request to book expire but the guest still wanted to book those dates.  I contacted Air BnB they were able to go in and review our conversation to see that the guest was still intreted in booking.  They then unblocked the dates and I was able to pre approve the guest for those exact dates.   Best of luck.

Lindsay

[Hilde1]

Same happened to me, twice, due to bad internetconnection(out travelling myself). Dont know how to fix it, it seems like an unfair way of airbnb "punishing" hosts blindly. Sometimes these delays happens..

[Amit2]

HI Hilde. Were you able to solve it?

[Donna45]

Same thing has happend to me.  I reply to all guest inquiries typcally within hours if not minutes.  However, I had one that didnt show up at all on my phone and is still not visable from my phone.  Yet on my computer I saw it only after it expired, blocking 6 days days on a busy July week.   And it says it is permenant as if Airbnb is punishing us.  This is absurd like the original post host said.  It is costing me income and airbnb their percentage as well.  

I fully understand that they are doing this to encourage quick response time.  But making it permenant is crazy unacceptable.  Especially when there is a glitch on their end since the booking request wasn't and still isn't visable on my phone.  What if the guest requested a month?!  

I sent airbnb a message with the issue already twice and have not even gotten a response.  How about Airbnb sending out emergency text messages, saying, "Hey, you have 5 hours to reply to reply to this guest or have dates blocked!" or somehting like that.  

[Amit2]

They have a lot of those glitches that makes you miss a notification. I didnt receive 2 notifications today and I got only now to my desktop and saw it. I am a UX manager so I know they have many creative ways to handle this without blocking the dates. 

[Rhonda13]

Hi, yes I have the same issue of dates blocked, I actually replied to the guest who inquired but the guest did not get back to me in time and my dates were blocked. I now have another guest wanting the dates but I cannot decline the old guest booking to clear the dates. It's awful, I am only a new member and find this absurd. I am trying to contact Airbnb but cannot find a contact number for Australia, does anyone have one?

[Amit2]

Hello 
I dont know if there is a number in Australia

But I googled up this number 

02 8520 3333

Can you see it? 

[Louise207]

Hey Rhonda,

I am also in Oz, did you find a contact number? I am facing the same issue 😞

thanks

[Amaris0]

Hi,

I’m in an almost similar situation and I emailed Airbnb a couple of days ago regarding my concern, I’m still awaiting a response.

Sometimes you receive an enquiry and you respond, other times a bit of back and forth communication is required in order to make an informed decision to pre-approve or decline.  You might not necessarily want to decline at that stage because you are waiting for further information from the potential guest and how quickly the guest responds is totally out of your control.  However if you do not respond one way or the other i.e., ‘pre-approve’ or ‘decline’, within 24 hours, you get penalised by those dates the guest has enquired about being blocked in your calendar. 

So what options are available to host -

As a host you don’t want to blindly pre-approve so it would appear that in order not be penalised by those dates being automatically blocked in your calendar, you may choose the safest option to decline. However as I understand it, too many declines have a negative impact on your listing ranking/ account; so host is disadvantaged.

You might feel the information you are waiting for is such that you might be willing to take a chance and pre-approve in order not to miss the 24hours response time permitted. The guest then receives confirmation of you pre-approval and a message inviting them to book within 24 hours following which the pre-approval will expire. At this stage other potential guests interested in those same dates can still find your listing and request to book or book instantly as the case may be which is great.

However the issue comes about when the guest does not take advantage of the pre-approval and it expires after 24 hours. The guest can still come back in the future and request a new pre-approval which will be based on your original old terms including rules and prices.

For example, I had an enquiry a couple of weeks ago for ending of July 16. Last week, I received my quarterly gas, water and electric utility bills and having reviewed them it was necessary to increase my Airbnb prices slightly.  I would have accepted and honoured any existing bookings at the lower price but I don’t see why I have to give a guest the old lower price which puts me out of pocket just because they made an enquiry in May but have not actually secured the booking; according to the guest, she will book sometime in the middle of July if she decides to stay at mine. If I go into a shop today May 21st I would have to pay the price of an item as seen today, I wouldn’t be able to go back to the same shop a month later and demand to pay the price I saw on the 21st of May if shop has increased the prices since then. I may be able to secure the lower price if I had paid a deposit back in May or if I made an agreement with the shop to pay the same price by a set date following which I would no longer be entitled to the old price.  With Airbnb, although the pre- approval has expired without the guest securing the booking,  she just has to resent the approval request in July, 2 months after her initial enquiry and Airbnb give her my old rates and terms – It makes no sense whatsoever to me.

Airbnb state in their policy that you can withdraw a pre-approval once it expires; especialy where you have made any changes to you listing  in order that  guest is bound by any new changes to your terms/ prices etc,.  However, Airbnb removed that option to withdraw pre-approvals a few months back but have not reviewed the impact to the host of not being able to withdraw pre-approvals.

Either ways, if you don’t pre-approve, Airbnb block your calendar. If you pre-approve the guest can come back at any time in future and request the same booking if the dates are still available, ignore any new house rules, terms, prices etc. And finally, if you decline, it eventually impacts your account – this is an unreasonable position and Airbnb’s own policy does not even serve its purpose yet Airbnb penalises host who do not choose one of the absurd options.

Apologies for the lengthy post…..

Ama

[Ivo-And-Sofia0]

Hello,

I had inquiry for apartment from 6-18th August although I have available from 6-17th (as it was in calendar). I started conversation with the guest and asked if he could come from 6-17th. But there was no answer. I have received few reminders from Airbnb to answer on that inquiry. I send 3 emails to the guest but there was no answer from him. And then the inquiry has expired.

I didnt want to decline the request or to accept it (because it was until 18th and not until 17th like it was in calendar as available).

Did I do anything wrong?

Thank you.

Ivo

[Amaris0]

Hi Evo, since it was an inquiry and you responded within the 24 hours then you didn’t do anything wrong. For me, I would have declined as I could not offer the additional day but that is down to individual host choice and you did attempt a number of time to make further contact with an alternative offer.

Just to explain, there are two different options for guest to make contact with a host, one is 'Contact Host' and the other is 'Request to Book'. A lot of guest wrongly use the Request to Book option to contact host when it is not their intention to book the listing, they just have some questions; this may have something to do with the fact that the Contact Host option is not located in the most obvious position on the listing page. That said, any actions required from you as a host or penalties from Airbnb would depend on the option the guest uses to contact you.

Request to Book - If you receive a reservation request from a guest asking you questions then you must accept or decline before the 24 hour expiration, otherwise Airbnb will block those dates in your calendar; it may be possible to manually unblock the dates although I have heard of a number of hosts who have not been able to do so and had to contact Airbnb which in itself is time consuming not to mention sometimes bit stressful. Normally if you go into the particular message in your inbox, it would also state just under the counter down timer that if you don't action the reservation request that the dates will be blocked in your calendar.

Contact Host - If you receive an inquiry, it is more your response rate that is being targeted and so long as you respond within the 24 hours, you will not get penalised if you don’t pre-approve or decline. Again for me, where possible I try to pre-approve or decline if I have sufficient information so that the guest knows if to pursue my listing or look elsewhere.

I hope this is of some help.

Ama

PS, you have a beautiful property, gorgeous views