Make 'unavailable' the default

Malin0
Level 1
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Make 'unavailable' the default

Hi everyone!

 

We rent out our place only every now and then, so we want the place to be unavailable by default and only make it available for the dates I choose to be available. How would I achieve this?

 

Also, I have now received an instant booking for October, where I thought our place was not available. I'd want to cancel this booking, but doing so would result in a fine and a comment/review on our listing, which I would deem unfair, since we didn't want to rent it out in the first place. How would I go about this. It seems that it's no longer possible to contact Airbnb?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Malin

23 Replies 23
Dave-and-Deb0
Level 10
Edmonton, Canada

Hi @Malin0,

 

It is the hosts responsiblilty to manage their calendar as Airbnb does not know when your listing is available or not.  You will need to block out the dates that your listing is not available.  I would suggest turning off Instant Book so you can avoid people automatically booking when your listing is not available.  This way you can vet your potential guests and you would be able to catch dates you might have forgotten to block off.

 

Also @Malin0, it is still possible to contact Airbnb.  You could type "contact airbnb" in the search box above but to save you time, check out this link: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Tips-Tricks/Contact-Airbnb-A-How-To-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

Yall scared me saying we're no longer able to contact airbnb. Just so you know, their phone number still works and is still the same, (breaths sigh of relief) haha! That number is 855-424-7262, at least that's the number I JUST used from the States. ~Sheila

 

Hi Dave, 

 

Thanks for the reply! 

 

I do understand it's my repsonsibility, but I just want the default to be 'unavailable' and set dates to 'available', whenever I decide to rent my place out. Now I'd need to go into my calendar and set every month to unvailable manually, which seems like a very suboptimal way if you only rent out your space sporadically. 

 

I did manage to contact Airbnb now over twitter. 

 

Thanks again!

 

Malin

Hi @Malin0,

 

I am assuming that you only rent you place when you go away?  Are you aware of the ability to Snooze or Unlist your listing?  This might be something you might look into and then you will not need to monitor your listing calendar until you decide to relist it.  This does not delete your listing, it just puts it on hold.

 

If you want to find out more information on how to do this, you can check out some of the Community Help Guides here: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Getting-Started/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#U23100

 

Cheers

 

Dave

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

There used to be a way to set your calendar such that it was only available when the dates were set to available (blocked by default). It appears that this no longer exists. How do we talk with AirBnB about getting it re-added? We manage several properties and it is cumbersome to stay on top of the properties that are only available when the owner is out of town.

how do I get rid of 'unavailable by 'default and go back to what was originally there

how do I get rid of dates unavailabl by default

Ha! That's ridiculous! It's Airbnb's reponsibility to make a calendar that works. "Unavailable" as a default setting shoudl be a very easy technical fix. I have this problem all the time. What's worse - I can't even manually fix it.  I want to block out everything for the next year so that people don't send me booking requests, but it's not possible beyond 3 months as far as I can tell. That's ridiculous!

Hey @Nick22,

 

Airbnb does have "Unavailable by default" now in the settings which I use and unblock dates on my terms.

David

Superhost Ambassador ~ Host Club Community Leader ~ Community Expert ~ Experienced Co-Host

Yes, but then with instant booking off they say that you have to reply to requests within 24 hrs or else a penalty, and I go on vacation without WIFII or even don't have time when in town to check all emails. 

Menu - Listing

- Select listing

- Listing Details

- Pricing and Availability

- Trip Length

- Availability Window - Dates unavailable by default

Amie3
Level 1
Paris, France

So, in summary, there's no way to list your property making it available only at the times you want (unavailble by default) so you don't have to worry about it. The solution suggested by Dave only works if you want to unlist your property entirely. This mean that while you're property is listed for future dates that you do want, you have to keep logging in to block out future dates that you don't want, as they become available. Great news for Airbnb, because the more you log in, the more likely you are to buy something; the more places that are listed (even incorrectly), the more people will use the site; and if someone books your place and you have to cancel it (as happened to Malin) they can charge you the cancellation fee. Plus there's probably selling all these metrics of activity (loggins, listings, etc) as evidence of future earning capacity to their shareholders. Meanwhile, we all get annoyed at each other for listing properties incorrectly, rather than at the middleman for setting things up in this most annoying-profitable way possible. Great work Airbnb.

Go to manage your listing -> Availability settings -> Reservation preferences (edit) -> Booking window pulldown set to Dates unavailable by default

Thanks!