airbnb unfairly blocked my calendar

[Bernard39]

So, I had a reservation request from a party who has not been reviewed yet on airbnb. I wrote back requesting a little more information to get to know the party better before I'd approve their reservation request. My email asking for additional information was sent within the 24 period. Although the prospective guest offered the desired information, airbnb judged I had not responded within 24 hours and blocked my calendar for two nights permanently. This is patently unfair as I HAVE answered them within 24 hours, I just did not have the change to receive their answer AND approve the request within the same 24 hour window. I want aibnb to lift the unfair block. But there's no way I can contact airbnb directly. 

Any help!

Bernard

[David126]

Decline or accept within 24 hourrs. If you can not accept then decline.

[Bernard39]

Thanks, David. I will certainly proceed as you suggest. I am almost certain, though, that this has changed recently. I had similar situations before and the email reply from me was counted as a response within 24 hours, then the negotiations between me and guest were allowed to go on longer. Anyway, as other respondents suggest, airbnb seems to discourage that kind of back and forth and streamline the platform to make it more like an instant booking system. To me that's a pity...

[Victoria57]

@Bernard39, yes I agree with @David126. Although you answered within the 24 hour period the platform is heavily automated and doesn't consider an email asking for additional info as meeting the accept/decline criteria which is all it looks for. Increasingly AirBnB seems to be trying to get away from hosts having a dialog with potential guests before a booking is confirmed, as shown with the trial of Instant Book being on by default. I guess you have fallen foul of this new attitude which I think is rather too restrictive.

[Melanie58]

You can contact them via twitter, and via phone @ 1-415-800-5959.  I had a similar misunderstanding when I first started a few weeks ago and Airbnb let me off without penalty.  Other posters are right - just try to hit that accept or decline button within 24 hrs.  It could even be something like:

"Airbnb requires me to approve or decline the request within 24 hours.  I am declining this request because you have not responded yet.  However, if you respond I can easily change my decline to an approval."

[Bernard39]

Thanks, Melanie. This is very helpful. I am traveling right now and calling airbnb long-distance may be a bit of a hassle, but it's good to have that number. Ironically , the party who wanted to rent my place still wants it, but now cannot book because of the block. So, in "punishing me" for being slow to respond, airbnb is also punishing my potential guest.

[Rosemary34]

Airbnb have blocked my calendar for the forseeable future out of the blue! It will take me hours to unblock. Is there any way I can unblock a month at a time?