"is this listing really available?"

[Laura2592]

Getting this question more and more from guests. I know there have been some calendar glitches and I am thinking that this may be what they are asking about. Anyone else have this question? 

I had an IB yesterday and the guest sent this after successfully confirming. Maybe some hosts cancel immediately? Dunno. 

[Ann72]

@Laura2592  Not really - I mean I occasionally get "Are these dates available," but not "Is this listing really available."  That wording is weird - as if they're asking if it's a ghost listing or something?  What do you think it means?

[Laura2592]

@Ann72  no idea. I thought it was weird as well. 

[Lisa723]

I am getting a lot of inquiries about dates that are clearly not available.

[Laura2592]

@Lisa723 yes I get those all the time-- "is this really booked? This is the only weekend we can get away. Any chance you can cancel this or open it up?" In fairness we have blocked some weekends for our own stays and used to be able to move things around a bit. But with the required cleaning protocols and time needed between stays its pretty much impossible until the end of the year at this point.

[Ann72]

@Lisa723  I've been getting those, too.  I tell them I'll put them on the waiting list lol.

[Lisa723]

@Laura2592 @Ann72 seriously, people are asking for that. If I had ten cabins I could fill them immediately. Everyone in Seattle and Portland wants a drivable private getaway now.

[Ann72]

@Lisa723  Same here.  This actually did work for my single most profitable booking of the year.  He'd been writing me for months, hemming and hawing, asking if someone coming in the middle of the month was still coming, etc.  Two other people wrote and asked for the whole summer, or two of the months at least.  So I told him he was first on the list with two others right on his heels.  Bingo, he got off the fence and booked.  Others have asked me to tell them right away of cancellations.  It was very much a you-snooze-you-lose season!

[Inna22]

Yes, I have had an uptick in those types of questions. Most of the time it is not even a question but rather a statement. Your place is great, I would love to book it. Or, I would love to book your place for my upcoming trip. Or something along those lines. I don’t even know how to respond to that. Great, thanks? Look forward to hosting? Are you blind and can’t see a big red button that says “book”? Will you read anything else I send you if you book or reading is not your thing? I do wonder sometimes if there is a glitch and the button is not there after I get too many of these in a row. 

[Dimitar27]

A luxury place for too low price can look like a fake.

And they are asking, to see is there a real host on the other side.

[Emilia42]

Maybe this has something to do with the guest just wanting to make sure the host is real and responsive? 

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592  Hanging around forums like this give us a distorted sense of how attentive and on-the-ball the average Airbnb host is. For every awesome host like all of you here, there are dozens who don't keep their calendars up to date, and plenty more who abuse their IB cancellation privileges.

All it takes is one unwarranted decline or host cancellation for a guest to have doubts about even their confirmed bookings.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  Yes, I've read quite a few guest posts here where they said they booked a place, only to have the host message them saying that those dates actually aren't available. Whether that is due to the host not having their calendar up to date, or some Airbnb calendar glitch, who knows, but in many cases the guest said that after the host did that, the guest saw the dates were open again, but at a higher price, so, unscrupulous host.