Guest booked blocked dates

[Donald368]

I had the months of January, February, March and April blocked pending new pricing, minimum booking stay and discounts.  In my location, 30 day or longer bookings work best for snowbirds who take good care of the unit.  I do not do seven day bookings in the winter.  I recieved notification this morning that a guest booked January 30, 2025-February 6.  I checked my calendar and verified the booking and every other date in the months noted were still blocked.  Airbnb support was of no help, they just suggested I cancel the booking and accept the penalty.  The case was elevated and the supervisor asked if my calendar was linked with other platforms (it is not) and noted I had Instabook on (it's always active and works well for me).  He went on to say there would be no waiver of penalty if I cancelled.  I messaged the guest and explained the situation.  Later, the guest cancelled the booking.  Upon Airbnb notification of cancellation,  I quickly checked the calendar dates (to block again) and found the dates were automatically blocked.  This suggests to me the block was somehow removed by the system and then returned to blocked status after the cancellation.   I can't see this being anything other than a problem with my calendar or potentially other host calendars.  I don't have the time to frequently verify my blocked dates are still blocked but fear a "mysterious unblocking" could happen again.  Clearly, Airbnb or the people they employ in

Support are not interested in determining if there is a system problem.  If any hosts have had a similar problem, it would be helpful to know what happened and why.  Thanks!

[Ana7]

@Donald368 It happened to me once, too. I blocked a few days as I was away on a trip myself so I couldn't take care of the unit.  

In the end I found someone who will get the place ready for the guest, so I didn't have to cancel, but I was very surprised that it can happen at all.

[Paula]

Hello @Donald368,  I hope you're doing well.

I'll DM you to get more information about the reservation you're referring to in your post.

Thank you.

[Lucinda114]

It's happened to me two or three times too.  The first time, I thought I must've forgotten to block the dates although I was sure I hadn't.  However, when it happened again...and again, I was sure that despite blocking dates, they had mysteriously shown as available again.  I declined a couple of requests and reluctantly accepted the others as I just knew that trying to unravel it would prove impossible.  Come to think of it, it must be more like four or five times.  I now check the calendar is showing correctly every few days, but it only takes a minute for someone to spot available dates and book.  Not good.  As I am not on Instant Book, I do, at least, get the chance to decline a reservation request, but I pride myself in not doing that as it doesn't look good.  It is, in a way, reassuring to know that I am not the only person.  Airbnb - you need to address this.

[Joan2709]

@Donald368 

There have been reports of this happening after the software release in the Summer 2023. We switched our Availability setting to unavailable by default instead of the rolling calendar options and then manually unblock/block as needed and have not had an issue. The only issue we see is the “sticky” keys when choosing dates on the calendar. Sometimes you forget to “unstick” keys and as a result apply a change to date(s) you didn’t really want.