Marking dates as unavailable for check-in but available for staying.

Answered!
Ben103
Level 2
Innsbruck, Austria

Marking dates as unavailable for check-in but available for staying.

Dear Airbnb,

 

I cannot contact you by email, so I try this.

 

Let me explain my problem:

 

I am consistently declining requests that want to book between Date A and Date B, because I am not there between Date A. and Date B. However, it is not possible to add a calendar setting where the dates between Date A and Date B are free IF check-in is before Date A.

 

That is a major problem, that one cannot mark certain dates in the calendar as unavailable for check-in. The reservation from Date A to any day before Date B is possible and I would not decline it, even if it is a short stay, so I did not want to block these days in my calendar.

 

People can stay in my apartment when I am not there, they can just not check in unless I can welcome them in person. That is also why I decline requests for stays starting from Sat. Most Sat., I am not there. 

 

I have been declining many requests because in my specific case, date A is juste before christmas and date B is just after new years, and many people want to visit my place between these dates! Declining this many requests got me a warning by airbnb and is also time consuming and frustrating.

 

How can I deal with this problem?

 

 

1 Best Answer
Iana0
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

It seems that the solution to this could be going into

- Callendar ->Availability Setting (top right in green)-> Press Edit under the Trip Length ->Press 'Add another requierement' where for spesific dates you can chose that the check in can be only done e.g. Friday. 

 

So for the weekend of 17th -18th of March I would only allow check in on Friday 16th. I think thats what this rule is supposed to do but I have not tested it yet fully. Just putting my listing live now. Fingers crossed. 

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31 Replies 31
Ken28
Level 10
Newburgh, IN

I completely agree with @Ben103.

 

In my area, I predominantly get long-term guest. And by long-term... I mean that I have had a guest stay for 10 months straight (wasn't Airbnb... but an exchange student). On Airbnb, I get several internships of people moving to the area for work, and stays are usually 2 to 3 months long.

 

I have no problem with hosting long-term. I've found these to be the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences. Long-term guests seem to be easy-going, very respectful, tidy, and we usually have a great time during their stay.

 

Anyway, because I love having long-term guests, I don't ever block any dates. There's no need to, since my long-term guests come and go as they please and don't really need me around.

 

But there are several times I've had to decline inquiries that I can't start or end a listing on the dates chosen.

 

Being able to restrict check-in or check-out on a day-to-day basis would be excellent. Otherwise, I'm constantly declining inquiries, which I hear takes a toll on my 'Acceptance Rating' (if that's indeed a thing.)

Iana0
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

It seems that the solution to this could be going into

- Callendar ->Availability Setting (top right in green)-> Press Edit under the Trip Length ->Press 'Add another requierement' where for spesific dates you can chose that the check in can be only done e.g. Friday. 

 

So for the weekend of 17th -18th of March I would only allow check in on Friday 16th. I think thats what this rule is supposed to do but I have not tested it yet fully. Just putting my listing live now. Fingers crossed. 

That doesn’t work because I want to allow check in on any date except a few, not the other way around 😞

Jessi10
Level 2
Vancouver, Canada

I’m having the same issue now in 2018 and would really benefit from an option to block certain dates from check-in because I won’t be home to change the sheets, wash towels, etc etc. 

This is definitely a must have. Plus it's not a hard feature to implement. Just have a radio button that says "no check in" that day. Using exceptions makes it harg because you can't have a reservation that overlaps the exception.

For instance i'm gone for a weekend so I can set a rule that say check in ok on Thursday/Friday an minum stay of 2 days. But I can't have someone stay say Tuesday through Monday even though that would be perfect... Very frustrating.

Sherry143
Level 1
London, United Kingdom

Hi. I hope you found the solution already. There is a way to choose a specific check- in day for a specific period. I had the same problem but this is how I got round it. Go to your listing>trip length>additional requirements>specific dates. Here you can specify minimum days, and check in day. You can add several periods. Who would have thought to find it buried in here! Hope this helps!

Glen-and-Natalie0
Level 2
Calgary, Canada

This is still an issue for me as well.  My cleaners do not work Jan 1st or on Christmas and I want to restrict check in and check out on these dates.  I do not want a minimun stay requirement or a day of the week restriction.  Other sites where vacation rental is done by the owners allow this 🙂

Jeff158
Level 10
Caernarfon, United Kingdom

@Glen-and-Natalie0 its possible using rule sets, to not allow checkin or checkout on any day and just apply it to the days you want.

If you don't have rule sets on your calander, go to your account settings, click "settings" and switch on professional hosting tools.

Untitled3.jpg

 

Thanks for the help, but this doesn't help if you want to restrict when geusts can check in or out during a specific time (ie Christmas).  I am fine with check in and out on Wednesdays but not on Wednesday December 25th!

@Glen-and-Natalie0, just put your rule for specific dates, not for the days of the week.

@Yulianna0 that won't work either I don't care if some one stays for 2 nights (my current minimum) or 10 nights just as long as they do not check in or out on specific days.  If I create a rule for specific dates, ie Dec 31 - Jan 1st for min 2 nights, it would not prevent someone from booking from December 27th to January 1st.  Open to other suggestions.  

@Glen-and-Natalie0, in fact I found the way how to prevent from check in on specific dates but not preventing from booking this days. For example, for 15-17 Jan I put check in only on Tuesday. During week days I put check in only on Sunday with min. 2 days. So they can come on Friday, Saturday, Sunday but not on Monday etc. Not perfect but better than nothing 

@Glen-and-Natalie0, have you tried the 'Custom Rule Sets' in the calendar page?

 

I was able to eliminate check-in on specific dates using a handful of rules:

 

Rule A: "No check-in except Sunday" (enable check-in only on Sunday)

Rule B: "No check-in except Wednesday" (enable check-in only on Wednesday)

 

Since no single rule can disallow check-in on all days,  you must enable at least one Check-in day for each rule.

 

If there's a date I need to restrict check-in, I enable one of those two rules. If it's a Sunday, I use my 'No check-in except Wednesday' rule, and Wednesday uses my 'No check-in except Sunday' rule.

 

Does that help? Hopefully it makes sense... it's a little convoluted.

 

I don't limit check-out days, but I think you'd be able to setup the same type rules... just limit check-out the same as you'd limit check-in.

 

@Ken28 I will try that and see if it works.  I just created a rule that doesn't allow check out or Check in on Wednesdays.  I then applied this to my listings on both December 25th and January 1st.  This seemed to work when I do a search.  thanks 

Beth80
Level 10
State of Roraima, Brazil

@Ben103 one of my guests suggested putting important notices in picture form. As your second picture was his suggestion. As most people  do look at the first couple pictures. Sounds strange but might be worth a try.