How do i unblock dates

[Richard154]

OK;

a guest asked if they could cancel cause he had not booked his flights ( putting the cart before the horse)

but now it seems the dates he booked, and i graciously canceled, are blocked so NOBODY else can book them.

How can i make them available again??

Thanks

[Sharon87]

yes, I am new to airbnb and my tourist requested that I cancel her trip which I did.  I see its blocked and I dont know how to refund her money.   she is only travelling in 3 months time.

[Sharon87]

It does not look like you get any answers.

[Linda108]

@Richard154 and @Sharon87  It is sad that you both are unaware of the Air BNB cancellation policies and have now experienced one of the several consequences to host cancellations.  Host cancellations without extenuating circumstances can have the penalty of the dates being blocked, a potential penalty fee taken from future reservations, eligibility for Super Host blocked for a year.  If a guest needs to cancel, then the guest cancels through Air BNB and the host NEVER agrees to the cancellation if when asked by Air BNB if you agree.  If the reservation was through Instant Booking, you also can cancel if there are host concerns about safety or the guest does not fit the house rules.  You should contact Air BNB (see the contact community guide in this site) and see if you can plea being a new host and being unaware of the cancellation policies.  Meanwhile, please take time to understand this business and the Air BNB platform as it is not as intuitive as you might think.  I wish you the best of success in this business.

[Maria-Lurdes0]

Further to what @Linda108  has said @Richard154 and @Sharon87, the system has recently changed so that a guest who wants to cancel is encouraged to reach out to the host to see if the HOST will cancel.    This is a very bad initiative on the part of Airbnb, and I can't believe that more noise isn't being made about it.   I've called and complained about this, I've emailed and sent Twitters.    Airbnb is making things very easy for the guest to cancel, and so the guest can now send a message along the lines of "guest X would like you to cancel, do you agree?"   It looks quite innocent, and new hosts fall into the trap of hitting "cancel" thinking that they are extending a kindness to the guest.    You are extending a kindness to the guest, but at great cost to yourself.   If you ever seen anything like this again, hit decline as hard as you can -it's up to the guest to cancel the booking if they want to cancel it.   I would get on the phone right away and make polite noise about this, as I think it's an extremely deceptive thing that AIrbnb is doing to hosts.

[Richard154]

HI;

I got thisfrom Airbnb

so i clicked on it and canceled it, Are u all saying i should NOT have>

cause than it aslo says this below the request>>

Soif Idont accept thyewillcancelit anyway>>>
weird or what???

I agree, makes it look like ur being a nice guy but in fact it hirts you,this is my first cancellation, I wont agree to another one.!!!

So now ya to unblock those dates?

Thanks

Sean requests that you cancel

Nov 21 - Nov 25 · Sea Horse villa Bangtao Phuket

You have 48 hours to respond

To make sure that Sean has time to find a new listing, the reservation will be canceled on your behalf if we don’t hear back.

[Maria-Lurdes0]

@Richard154 The only way that the calendar will become unblocked is to call Airbnb and tell them that you accepted the cancelation request in error, because they made it look like it was not any kind of big thing!   We all have to start really letting them know that these very friendly guest initiatives are hurting us hosts.

[Richard154]

Thanks;

They should not do it this way.

 PS ;

i have been thru the site, where is their contact numbr/email address?

[Helen3]

Use the search function here - most popular asked and answered question.

[Robin4]

@Richard154 Thanks Richard for this post and that screenshot. Although much talked about this is the first time I have actually seen the way Airbnb are handling this and they are be absolutely damned for using this method of obtaining a host cancellation.

I am lucky in that I have never had any hint of a problem but I am so pleased the forum has provided me all this information for the time one like this will crop up.....cheers......Rob

[Richard154]

UPdate;

sent them a note via their internal email asking to unblock and make it that the GUEST cancelled,

got this reply;

We regret to inform you that your guest Sean canceled reservation xxxxx  starting on 2016-11-21. Per your cancellation policy, a complete refund was given to the guest.

For more information on cancellation payouts, please see our FAQ.

Your calendar has also been updated to show that the previously booked dates are now available.

Regards,
The Airbnb Team

thanks all for ur help on this and hope others learn by it as well

[Marushka0]

Hi. What email address did you use to tell Airbnb to unblock the required dates?

[Lula-And-LP0]

That is so deceptive from AirBnB.  Doing this to new Hosts is terrible, bordering in unethical.

[Linda108]

I have just posted a suggestion in Host Voice under the search term cancellation.  Please review and support my post.  If there is sufficient thumbs up, the idea will be taken seriously and forwarded to the Air BNB team.

[Robin4]

@Richard154 ......Hi Richard, A few of us are looking at this closely at the moment and thank you so much for posting it. I hope you don't mind but I have posted this in a number of other posts warning hosts of the devious ways they can be caught by cancelling!

What I am really interested in now Richard is the email that accompanied that cancel request. Is there any possibility you could post a screen shot of that. It is my assumption from what another post said that it consists of a bold accept/decline bar and under that was a box relating to a continuance of the hosting.

Fortunately most of us don't get to see a notice like this but, as hosts who give advice on the forum we need to give correct information to those who ask.

If you could post a screenshot of that email, that would be wonderful, and as I said before I am so sorry you have found yourself in this position...cheers....Rob