Reservation request expired

[Marina13]

Hello,

the reservation expired because there has been an error from Airbnb about minimum stay (during high season I accept 4 nights min only but the system accepted 3 nights from this guest) so I had to find out how to fix it.

 Then I didn't have enough time for my guest to reply.

I cannot accept a reservation if I don't have a proper answer from my guest.

Since I have consumption expenses to be paid according to counters, I needed the guest to know and therefore accept or not my conditions.

Plus, price for 3 nights only is higher than the weekly one so I had to adjust it by using special offer but this option disappeared from the request page.

I don't understand why this will negatively impacted my listing’s search placement and  may temporarily turn off my listing.

I always try to reply as soon as I get a reservation.

I feel very bad and demotivated by watching all my good will and job of a whole year being ruined by a technical problem as this one.

Marina

[Marina13]

Hello,

the reservation expired because there has been an error from Airbnb about minimum stay (during high season I accept 4 nights min only but the system accepted 3 nights from this guest) so I had to find out how to fix it.

 Then I didn't have enough time for my guest to reply.

I cannot accept a reservation if I don't have a proper answer from my guest.

Since I have consumption expenses to be paid according to counters, I needed the guest to know and therefore accept or not my conditions.

Plus, price for 3 nights only is higher than the weekly one so I had to adjust it by using special offer but this option disappeared from the request page.

I don't understand why this will negatively impacted my listing’s search placement and  may temporarily turn off my listing.

I always try to reply as soon as I get a reservation.

I feel very bad and demotivated by watching all my good will and job of a whole year being ruined by a technical problem as this one.

Marina

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

ontact  AIrBnB - if you say the reservation breached your minimum stay then their system should not have accepted it.

[Marit-Anne0]

I just discovered another glitch with the calendar.  Tried to set minimum stay for specific dates - it did not work.  I have done it before and I know how to do it, so it is not that.

[Jon-And-Satya0]

HELP!! This is the SECOND time this has happened and our response rate is going down, but not because we've done anythign wrong!

We got this email after exchanging 3 questions and answers:

Hi Jon And Satya,

Because you didn't accept or decline Ossi’s reservation request within 24 hours, it has expired. Travelers need hosts to make booking decisions quickly, so if you consistently don’t respond within 24 hours your listing’s search placement may be negatively impacted and we may temporarily turn off your listing.

If you still want to book, ask Ossi to submit a new reservation request.

2016-03-14 19:48:17 +0000

This is HUGELY maddening for us, and for our prospective guests, who now have to go and resubmit their requests. Can ANYONE help with this???

Jon Love

[Shahrez0]

Hi,

Can anyone suggest how I can unblock my calener for ceratin dates because the requests expired. 

[Caroline85]

Airbnb has changed the page so people who are inquiring, click book. This is great if they are experienced guests and do want a reservation, but if they are making an inquiry it is a great problem, as the Host only has 24 hours to accept or decline the reservation. I have spent hours walking guests through this and they then end up not completing the reservation. Today I had a student not show for an inspection for his parents - said he wanted 2 periods, I took the day off work to show him and he says he has changed his mind at the inspection time. If I had accepted his booking as Airbnb forces me to do - then he tries to cancel - there is a whole issue.

Others who book, don't provide information of the makeup of their party and again as a Host we have to accept or decline (and then are penalized) without information is very tough.

You have 24 hours to accept the booking even if the guest does not reply with the needed details. If you decline for lack of information you are penalized as a Host.

Also there are issues with notifications not coming through. Airbnb said I was the only one with the issue. Airbnb said they would not advise if they have fixed the problem. Given Airbnb make money by Hosts accepting bookings, it is a large issue. Text message are critical and should not be taken away.

Seems the shift is way away from Hosts and entirely in the guest favor...

[Emeline4]

Hi, when a request expires it says I can still send the guest who asked for these dates a special offer. When I go onto the conversation with her, it says  that the dates in my calendar are blocked, even if I have marked them "available" in my calendar after they got automatically blocked by airbnb 

How can I unblock them? I still want to host this lady and I just missed the original 24h by a few minutes

Comment when I try to send the special offer : 

"You have already marked some of the dates in this date range as unavailable. To include the dates in your Special Offer, first make them available."

Can someone help please?

Many thanks

[Susan137]

This is exactly my problem - I missed the reservation period by about 2 hours.  I'm sure the guest would still like to reserve and it doesn't make sense to not allow unblocking. 

The instructions from Airbnb are not clear or there is a flaw in their system right now.  I want to send a Special Offer - as Airbnb suggested - and Airbnb is blocking it.

[Patrice13]

same question...

[Susan141]

This has happened to me too - suddenly - no texts or e-mails from Airbnb - no explanantion or warning. I lost several potential bookings and had to grovel - with my explanantion - most had found other placements. Not good enough as it makes me look as though I hadnt bothered!  How do you get to complain to them DIRECT??   

[Julie279]

I am having the same issue.  We were away from the computer and I replied to the guest via texting and thought I had taken care of accepting the reservation.  The next day I heard from the guest her request had been declined.  Why isn't there a number or website we can communicate directly to AirBnB staff to rectify the situation.  I thought I had done what I needed to do but now our listing will be negatively affected/penalized for this.  If anyone has any suggestions, we would be grateful.

Thanks,

Julie and John Jessum

[Maureen32]

I am having the same problem. Sometimes guests have many questions, or want to request an exception to our minimum number of nights, or want to inquire about extra people, etc. While we are trying to work all these things out the request expires, though I am communicating diligently to try to come to an agreement. I don't want o approve conditions I won't accept, but neither do I want to immediately decline a reservation tha we can perhaps make adjustments to and work out. This has happenend twice now!

Is there some way to conatct Airbnb directly?

It concerns me that if there is ever a bigger issue than this, it will also be difficult to communicate diectly with the company and get help.

Ay suggestions or information would be apprecieated!

[Bill2]

I have a similar issue:  guest is booking from Australia, I'm hosting in Canada, request comes in without any detail on who/how many are requesting and by the time I ask and get a response the 24 hours expire because (largely) of the 12 hour time difference, and Airbnb sends me an email threatening penalty blockage of calendar.  Entirely unreasonable.  Once I ask a guest a qualifying question the clock needs to start fresh.  

Airbnb puts up these host discussion boards but no way to talk to them about this.  Good application but needs to improve in this area.   They are a 'global' service and need to recognize 'global' factors like this.

[Nina42]

I am experiencing this as we speak, a reservation expired, she still wants to re-book but cannot because the dates are blocked.  The "Special Offer" is not working because the site is telling me I need to "unblock the dates" but the site will not let me.  It is a viscious cycle. 

[Maureen32]

Having the same problem. And there seems to be no way to contact Airbnb directly.