Minimum stay - glitch?

[Prew0]

My listing is set as a minimum stay of 2 nights so I was very surprised to receive an automatic booking for 1 night. Is this a glitch? I have searched the Community Center and found several other reports of this happening. I am trying to contact AirBnB support but so far no reply. I may have to just accept this booking to save my "Super Host" status but really don't want this to be happening. I have had a friend try and book for one night to test it and they haven't been able to to it must be an intermittent fault. Any comments to avoid this happening again would be gratefully received.

[Shelley159 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Prew0 

There are 3 ways in which your minimum stay may be overridden (assuming you're only using Airbnb's calendar and not managing your calendar through third-party software).

One way is if you have professional tools turned on, and you have created a rule set with a one-night minimum stay that is applied only to certain nights.

The second possibility is that you could have set certain nights of the week to attract different minimum stays. Go to calendar, availability, click minimum nights. You will see the "customise by check-in day" option. Check that one or more days of the week aren't perhaps set to accept 1-night stays.

The third possibility is that you could have created a "custom trip length" for some dates, and that it was set to a 1-night minimum. Custom trip lengths are shown just below maximum nights on the calendar.

[Prew0]

Thanks for replying @Shelley159 . I checked my listing and the single day that they booked had indeed been changed to a special "customised check in" of one day. My point is that it just seems too much of a coincidence that I had accidentally changed this single day to over-ride my usual 2-day minimum stay rule and that of all the days they could have booked, this was the day they chose to stay!

That's why I'm questioning whether anyone else has had a surprise booking of less than their minimum.

I'm also concerned that if I have inadvertently over-ridden my minimum stay that I might do it again.

[Fiona267]

Hi Prew0 - I wanted to let you know this has happened to me on more than one occasion over the last two years so you are not going crazy, this is a glitch in the software programming in my opinion.

It is pretty much impossible to accidentally, randomly, alter your two night minimum stay as this takes a few deliberate steps and why would a host randomly, deliberately, do this?

This issue has caused me incredible stress, frustration and ultimately money when trying to communicate the issue to an Airbnb ambassador.

The last time this happened to me was last week and I explained to the guest we do not do single night bookings. In the end I had to cancel the booking, the first time I have ever cancelled a booking in five years as a superhost. I was informed by Airbnb I would incur a financial penalty for cancelling - considering the reason for it, this is ludicrous in the extreme.

I have been informed, repeatedly, that this situation is a direct result of something I did, which I did not.

You then start to think that maybe you did do something as there is no acknowledgement of this being a real issue but yesterday I ran into a local host and the first thing he said, unprompted, was that he was dealing with a single night booking for 9 people - he does not have a single night minimum stay at his property but as he runs a big busy business as well as his Airbnb, he simply has no time to deal with it and has just accepted the situation as a glitch.

Considering the millions of hosts out there this cannot be something just happening to 3 people!

I expect the problem will likely occur again.I hope this helps you but personally it seems all we can do is continue to try to get this situation taken seriously or consider looking for alternative booking options.  

[Prew0]

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to reply. I was already sure I could not have caused this to happen but I am now convinced and I will continue to pursue airbnb about it. 
On your other point about cancellation penalties this happened to me a few years ago when a new month (December) was opened up on the calendar for booking 3 months in advance. I wasn’t quick enough to block Christmas weekend and when someone booked I immediately messaged them to apologise and ask them to cancel (at no cost to them) but they didn’t so I had to cancel them… to a fine, and loss of super host status for me. Even though it was so far in advance! There are some features of the system that are really frustrating but one of the worst is the lack of support from the management!

[Shelley159]

Hi @Prew0 

I realise this is not your question here, but just as an aside:

You don't have to block Christmas just because you can't change guests (I struggled with this type of scheduling for a long time too). You can go to the account page and turn on professional tools. This allows you to create a rule that people can stay over those days, but not check in or out. Professional Tools may also help with your minimum stay issue, as it overrides the calendar settings.

[Beverley167]

Happened to me today.   Never happened before and someone managed to override my 3 night strict say policy and booked one day bang in the middle of the Christmas week.   I have arrangements to stay myself with my family and could not believe what happened.  I had to cancel and it has cost me £37 plus no doubt I have lost my super host.  The person booking refused to cancel or move the dates to free cancellation period and then cancel.  I'm very annoyed.  I run a good business and deserve my super host.

[Helen3]

You should have called Airbnb and asked them to cancel penalty free as you had blocked the days out rather than cancelling yourself @Beverley167 

[Beverley167]

I have. been on the phone to Airbnb and they are looking into it.   For some odd reason it showed in my calendar as a special 1 day option (the only one in the year).  No idea how this could have happened.  Anyway it was on a blocked date so should not have happened.  I also us another site and share the calendar and have a photographed the calendar showing my block.  hopefully they will sort it out their end.  Thank you for reaching out Helen3 x

[Beverley167]

Just let let every know I have had great support from Airbnb today.  We communicated by phone and then text and all was resolved very quickly.  I did somehow have a one day permission to book in my calendar.  However it was on a blocked date but somehow it got through.   I would not allow a one day booking but yes it was in my options.  Anyway with great help it has all been resolved with no penalties.   I live in the UK so was very stressed about sorting this but it is sorted through such a huge platform.    - and breath....