I was getting bookings and my views were 150-200 a month but...
I was getting bookings and my views were 150-200 a month but now bookings have dried up and I get about 40 views a month. Any...
Answered!
Top Answer
With the slider ON, your calendar appears OPEN to guests (and you) even with the 3 month availabiity set. That is it's purpose - to get you to make more dates beyond the 3month window available for guests to request to book. I suggest you turn OFF the slider and keep the 3-6month window.
Turn OFF Instant Book
I also suggest turning OFF Instant Book; especially for new Hosts. Just type Instant Book issues or something similar in the search the community box and you'll see what I mean. Lots of loopholes with Instant Book (a guest with a 3.5 rating can instant book your property) and Airbnb is not removing retaliatory reviews as they should. But of course, that is up to you.
Issues With Leaving Slider ON
So this is the issue with the slider ON....It means your calendar will appear "open" to guests to send a request to book beyond the availability you set. Essentially, your calendar is always "open" in the guest view. This causes so much confusion on the Host side as well as it appears your calendar is "open" beyond your availability (because it is to guests who just can't Instant Book but need to send a request). It also leads to potential issues for you, as you may not have priced dates further out, but a guest can still request to book the dates and if you don't want to accept as the price is wrong, you'll have to decline the request. Airbnb tracks how many times you decline a booking and if you do that alot, it could negatively affect your search results rank with the algorithm.
Airbnb added this slider feature (and defaulted it to ON BTW) to push Hosts who set less than a year availability to make more dates available for booking. They only make money if somebody books you see. The more availability on your calendar, the more chance someone will book.
The only way to resolve this (if using Instant Book) is to turn OFF the slider and let your calendar availability totally dictate what appears open to a guest. BTW, the only way to block dates beyond your availability window (say for personal use) is to turn on Professional Hosting Tools and use the multicalendar to do that. Otherwise, the date will appear blocked, but will automatically open on the rolling calendar. There are some other options to ensure dates past your availability window remain blocked if you want them to until you are ready to open them.
Instant Book
To turn OFF Instant Book, go to your Listing Editor and scroll down.
Airbnb wants ALL Hosts to use Instant Book (they want you to take all the risk for bad guests while they still get their service fee), so you will see all kinds of "warnings" if you turn it OFF. Many Hosts do not use Instant Book and do just fine. Many more are turning Instant Book OFF lately, as Airbnb has turned over review disputes to AI and are not removing retaliatory reviews. They claim by using the optional settings of "good track record and no negative issues" protects you - it doesn't. As I mentioned, a guest with a 3.5 overall rating can still Instant Book and if the guest has trips but no reviews (a red flag), they can still Instant Book.
Availability Instant Book Slider
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3611
Please provide a screen shot of your calendar availability so we can perhaps assist.
Are you using Instant Book?
Is this slider ON or OFF?
Thanks Joan
my slider is on so people can make requests. But it should still be closed for three months right?
these are my settings.
I can’t see the Instant book setting. But yes people can book when they want to. They don’t have to text us to request.
Thanks
With the slider ON, your calendar appears OPEN to guests (and you) even with the 3 month availabiity set. That is it's purpose - to get you to make more dates beyond the 3month window available for guests to request to book. I suggest you turn OFF the slider and keep the 3-6month window.
Turn OFF Instant Book
I also suggest turning OFF Instant Book; especially for new Hosts. Just type Instant Book issues or something similar in the search the community box and you'll see what I mean. Lots of loopholes with Instant Book (a guest with a 3.5 rating can instant book your property) and Airbnb is not removing retaliatory reviews as they should. But of course, that is up to you.
Issues With Leaving Slider ON
So this is the issue with the slider ON....It means your calendar will appear "open" to guests to send a request to book beyond the availability you set. Essentially, your calendar is always "open" in the guest view. This causes so much confusion on the Host side as well as it appears your calendar is "open" beyond your availability (because it is to guests who just can't Instant Book but need to send a request). It also leads to potential issues for you, as you may not have priced dates further out, but a guest can still request to book the dates and if you don't want to accept as the price is wrong, you'll have to decline the request. Airbnb tracks how many times you decline a booking and if you do that alot, it could negatively affect your search results rank with the algorithm.
Airbnb added this slider feature (and defaulted it to ON BTW) to push Hosts who set less than a year availability to make more dates available for booking. They only make money if somebody books you see. The more availability on your calendar, the more chance someone will book.
The only way to resolve this (if using Instant Book) is to turn OFF the slider and let your calendar availability totally dictate what appears open to a guest. BTW, the only way to block dates beyond your availability window (say for personal use) is to turn on Professional Hosting Tools and use the multicalendar to do that. Otherwise, the date will appear blocked, but will automatically open on the rolling calendar. There are some other options to ensure dates past your availability window remain blocked if you want them to until you are ready to open them.
Instant Book
To turn OFF Instant Book, go to your Listing Editor and scroll down.
Airbnb wants ALL Hosts to use Instant Book (they want you to take all the risk for bad guests while they still get their service fee), so you will see all kinds of "warnings" if you turn it OFF. Many Hosts do not use Instant Book and do just fine. Many more are turning Instant Book OFF lately, as Airbnb has turned over review disputes to AI and are not removing retaliatory reviews. They claim by using the optional settings of "good track record and no negative issues" protects you - it doesn't. As I mentioned, a guest with a 3.5 overall rating can still Instant Book and if the guest has trips but no reviews (a red flag), they can still Instant Book.
Availability Instant Book Slider
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3611
