How can I make my listing unavailable by default?

[Jennifer334]

Hello everyone,

I use airbnb to host guests in my own home, and I only do it when I am out of town. Therefore my place is actually only available a few weeks out of the year. Is it possible to make my listing "unavailable" by default, so I can just go in and select times I know I'm going to be gone? The problem I keep running into is that it's very tedious to have to keep going through and blocking off months and months at a time, and sometimes I forget to do it, so I have guests requesting to book on dates that seem available but are not. Sometimes these requests come many months in advance. And then I have to come up with some excuse and I feel bad. 

So basically, instead of the place being "available" by default, can switch it to being "unavailable"? 

I'm sure I am not the only person who uses Airbnb this way so other people must have the same isssue. 

thanks for any help anyone can give!

[Robin4]

@Jennifer334.....Hi Jennifer, your best option is to 'snooze' your listing when you do not want it to be available. By doing this it will not show in search results so you will not get any enquiries.

If you want to stop receiving inquiries and requests, snooze your listing temporarily. Your listing will automatically activate when the timeframe you set for 'snooze' is over. If the timeframe for your proposed 'snooze' is longer than three months make sure your calendar is open for bookings for at least the length of time you are going to snooze. I will mention other option if that does suit further down.

1. Click your name in the top-right corner of your home page
2. Select Your Listings
3. Click on Manage Listing and Calendar for the listing you want to edit! On the left side of your screen you will see your listing editing options as per this screen shot...

The last box on the lower left of the screen will at present show 'Listed' with a green dot (as per my screen shot). By checking this box you will note three options....Listed....Snoozed.....Unlisted.

4. Select Snoozed in drop-down menu on the bottom-left

5.'Enter the Start date and End date.

While snoozed, your listing won't show up in search results and you won't receive any booking requests. The day before your listing automatically activates, you'll get a reminder email that your listing will be available to book.

Please note Jennifer that you’re still responsible for any confirmed reservations you may have while your listing is snoozed, and you will receive a penalty if you do not host, or relocate, those confirmed reservations. I know, stupid thing to bring up but I have seen the situation where someone thought that by snoozing their listing their reservations simply disappeared!!

If you want to have your listing blocked for a longer time than you can set your calendar for, then click the 'un-listed' tab and this remove your listing until you are ready to re-activate it!

If you check 'Un-listed' same as for 'snooze' will apply but you will have to return and manually re-list your property!

All the best Jennifer....hope this works for you.

Cheers....Rob

[Jennifer334]

thank you so much Rob! that's very helpful. Problem solved.

[Clare0]

@Jennifer334 Yes! You can make all dates unavailable and only open (unblock) the dates you want to make available for booking. I do this with my own listing since none of the availabilty settings suit me. 

Here's how: 

On your calendar, select a date you want to be unavailable.  In the box to the right you will see a date range.  Select an end date far into the future, for example, a date sometime in 2019.  All the dates in between will be blocked.  You can then select dates to make available without affecting the dates that are blocked.  Here's what it looks like: 

https://goo.gl/9VCXDh

This works great for me.  The trick is to not forget to unblock dates you want to make available so you'll need to be on top of that. 

No need to "snooze"!

🙂

[Robin4]

@Clare0.....Thanks Clare and @Dede0....see you keep on teaching me. That's something I was not aware of, but will use in future because I host for much of the year on other sites and that is less cumbersome than what I have deen doing and recommending.

Have a wonderful and healthy new year...I hope you don't get 'Trumped' over the course of it!

Cheers.....Rob

[Dede0]

@Jennifer334 I don't mean to diss the useful suggestions from @Robin4 and @Clare0, but there's an even better way to do what you want.

While logged in to your listing, go to your calendar. Near the upper right, click on Availability Settings. In the drop-down that appears, go to "Booking window" (3-4 items down the list), click on that, then select "Dates unavailable by default". That will prevent ALL unopened dates from opening from now into infinity.

Then, since I assume that some number of dates WERE already open, you'll need to go close all/most open dates. I recommend doing that in monthly segments, for as many months as were open. You can drag across multiple days; you don't need to work day by day.

After that, go back and open any dates you know at this time that you want to be open.

In the future, since all dates are blocked by default, you can just open whatever dates you want at whatever time you decide you can open them.

[Jennifer334]

thank you very much, everyone! this has been very very halpful. I really appreciate it. 

[Oliver96]

This is the best answer