Keep getting bookings on blocked dates

Elisabeth179
Level 1
New York, NY

Keep getting bookings on blocked dates

Hi!

I keep getting bookings on dates I had greyed out and marked unavailable, particularly in October 2017. The first time I thought maybe it was a fluke or I had somehow forgotten to mark those dates unavailable, but now it's happened 3 times, all in October and after I had gone back and marked all my dates unavailable (which I now believe I had done before any of these bookings happened.)

 

I don't want to get penalized for canceling so was trying to figure out if I could stay with friends during those dates, but now it's just getting ridiculous.  Has this happened to anyone else?

16 Replies 16
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Elisabeth179 yes it happens often. It seems it has something to do with 3 months availability setttings. We have 6 months availability settings and it doesn't happend.

Here, read this post: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/I-am-taking-Calendar-issues-to-the-top/m-p/324845#M74419

 

contact Airbnb to sort it out for you: https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us#/

This has just happened to me and unfortuneately for a booking just two days away.  It was not possible to do anything but cancel the booking and apologise to the guest.  I have double checked twice in the last few weeks that the dates were blocked as I was using my property for my own family get together.  I will be re-considering the instant book process as a result of this.  Whilst disappointed that this issue has been known about for well over a year, I am at least a little relieved that it is not my mistake.

 

It is very difficult to find an actual direct contact with airbnb to raise this.  Will keep searching.

Linda-And-Richard0
Level 10
San Antonio, TX

This same problem with blocked dates happened to me last fall.  I had blocked 3 months, Christmas Eve to late March.  A booking request for New Year's Eve pops.  I sent a reply to the guest, apologized and stated the dates were unavailable.  After checking my calendar, all the dates I had blocked were open.  I again blocked the dates and for the next few weeks, a day at a time would magically appear as available.   Now I make it a habit to check my calendar every couple of days.  Since I do not use Instant Book, I did not have to cancel any reservations. 

Linda

 

 

Sarah157
Level 2
Betchworth, United Kingdom

This has happened to me, it was on a preparation day for my next guest.  I am lucky that I am now a Superhost and have a contact number for contacting Airbnb so they sorted it out and I was not penalised.  I still use Instant Book, but will not if it happens again.  Worth trailing through the site to find the contact number for Airbnb to speak to someone so you do not get penalized.

Jane371
Level 2
Houston, TX

I've had 2 such bookings in the past 3 days. I called in to Airbnb, got no answer as to what's up. I even had a potential guest tell me that she's booked 3 times only to be told that the dates were blocked. 

Nancy257
Level 1
Franklin, WV

This has been happening to me for the past month.  I think I have received 4-6 requests for dates I had blocked.  Aftern declining the unavailable date, I go check my calendar... find these dates UNBLOCKED  and I block them again... and again...!!  I don't know anyway to talk with someone at airbnb about this.  I saw there is a 4 step way to reach a call/email/chat option IF it is in regard to a reservation (within 48 prior or 48 hours after).  But my question is how to prevent airbnb making changes to my available dates.  I, too, have to repeatedly decline requests for dates that I had blocked.

 

These unauthorized changes to my calendar have all been for September dates, so far... maybe one in October.

 

Patrick395
Level 2
Reading, United Kingdom

Hi,

Similar problem here but with a twist. I have some dates that are free, but leading to a blocked week. A guest instant booked , but overlapped my blocked week by one day. I had no choice but to cancel the reservation. I got an e mail from Airbnb to say how wrong it was to cancel a reservation, and went on to explain the penalties etc, but also said that to avoid this happening again, the system blocked my available dates for 3 months. Anyone know how I can unblock my free dates..??

Thanks

Patrick

Miranda44
Level 1
Ocean Shores, Australia

Hello everyone,    I am new to Airbnb and blocked out dates for next week to accommodate our daughter and friends.  I just had a request for a booking for 2 nights over this week and I had to decline them.  I was upset as I felt awful and and actually thought I had not blocked them, but I had.  How do you explain this to people who have booked, instead of making it your fault?  and does this effect our ratings? Many thanks Miranda

Rachel352
Level 1
Dedham, United Kingdom

Hi Elisabeth

 

I was almost relieved to read your post as I have had exactly the same experience twice and I thought I was going mad. However I am absolutely sure I blocked out the dates because they were for a big family party and for Christmas and yet guests tried to book them as they were showing as available. I am also concerned as the first one was an instant book and I would have been penalised for cancelling but AirBnB waived that this time. Is there a problem witht the calendar system I wonder?

Karen629
Level 2
Charlottesville, VA

OMG thank you for posting this!  I thought I was crazy.  I got a request to book and then this message.  All of October has been booked or blocked for many months.  But this is the second request for a date that I know I blocked off because the current Airbnb person is here for a month while looking for permanant housing and I blocked off the next few weeks after in case he needs to extend his time.  Since this is our house and not a rental property, we provide the room at our discretion and not for an ongoing income.

 

I recently just went to instant booking but then I thought, shoot, what if people instant booked blocked dates!!!  So I immediately took instant booking off.  Airbnb came back with WHY?  and a bunch of warnings which I thought were a little ominous.  But I did tell them that until they can protect the calendar I set up, they can't be trusted with instant booking.  And I will take down my listing if I have to constantly check my calendar for inappropriate meddling by Airbnb.

 

This is the second request and a message from Airbnb

Desiree’s request expires at 3:40 PM EDT on Sep 29. If you don’t accept or decline, Oct 21-22 will remain blocked.

 

 

Tara132
Level 2
Massachusetts, United States

ok, I am not going insane then.

 

I live in a resort area and during high season I use an additional booking site that does not link automatically to Airbnb.  I am extremely meticulous with my calendars to avoid any issues.  Dates that I blocked (and included notes on stating they were booked on the other site) became unblocked.  I am a Superhost and contacted Airbnb - which is a teeth pulling, absolute, horrific, gut wrenching experience all in its own - and was assisted with a gentleman that explained I would be contacted by a "manager" to resolve the double booked dates.  This "manager" started messaging me day 2 after midnight EST (day 3) when I specifically requested I be called, preferably sometime before the sheep start getting counted for the night.  It was awful.  She was horrible.  I was told it was MY FAULT for having instant book on.  I was told I cannot use instant book feature.  I was told I wasnt updating my calendar.  I was told I can no longer use instant book (which then I could lose out on potential guests using this filter option). I was furious!!!  Sorry for the bit of a rant there....

 

I love Airbnb and it offers really cool features but some serious program upgrades are necessary to accomodate all of the bells and whistles prior to rolling them out.  ESPECIALLY if the customer service is so flimsy, weak, and essentially non-existent. 

To avoid the issue I turned off the instant book option and I check my calendar EVERY SINGLE DAY.  And I hope that the folks behind the curtain turn off the smoke machines and face the music - fix what is broken so we can all start singing "there's no place like home" again.

The-Love-Shack0
Level 2
Packwood, WA

Same here.  At first I thought it was my mistake, however, as this problem continued, my property manager called and AirBnb.  They accepted responsibility and canceled the reservations without any penalty to my Super Host status.  FYI, we do not have instant book turned on.  I do have the three month availablility setting on.  It has now happened again for some dates I set in August.  My property managers new about the block dates so they double checked the calendar for availabilty before accepting the reservation request.  The calendar was not blocked so they figured I changed my plans.  They are on the phone with AirBnb right now......Don't even get me started about the claims process for a damage deposit refund...

Niza38
Level 1
San Diego, CA

I am new to Airbnb and just had this happen. We have had dates blocked off since we first joined in Nov 2019 for a family trip. We are all flying in but just got a message that someone just instant booked dates that overlap ours. Now we have to find alternate accommodations on our own dime and figure out what to do with a weeks worth of groceries since there aren't grocery stores up there. I started a chat with airbnb but after 30 minutes I need to close it without any of the promised responses. Very disappointing. And we have 6 months of rental open, so in our case it couldn't have been a three month rental glitch. 

Liz5
Level 2
Alexandra Headland, AU

I am a newbie Airbnb host and I was double booked on dates that I had blocked out. I contacted the guest and told her what had happened unaware that this is a regular occurence. I then proceeded to cancel the booking but made a mistake and cancelled the incorrect booking from a guest with a similar name (I was very flustered by this stage). Then I had to go back and cancel the original double booking! Now I have to pay a penalty and Airbnb has paused my listing! Help! How do I contact Airbnb to try and get some recompense and my listing back from paused? I am in Australia.