Issues with Blocking Dates - changes to the system

1

I have Instant Book. And I now have a few issues. I’m hoping one of the smart people in this forum can help.
So, a quick background.
Bookings at my place cannot be made more than 3 months out. It used to be 6 months but due to some issue with guests being able to book previously blocked dates I changed it to 3 months.

Now I have an issue. I had blocked the dates around Christmas and New Years Eve as we have family staying. However, blocking dates only recognises one form of blocking. So, the moment that Christmas rolled around as being within the 3 month period, the block was automatically removed and the system did not acknowledge the specific dates block.
And of course a guest booked. I rang Airbnb immediately to cancel and have asked for them to reconsider removing my Superhost status etc and am waiting for a reply, however there’s now a blemish on my record and a ‘Host cancelled reservation 87 days before the stay’ under my reviews. I will also receive a $50 penalty fee.

Does anyone know how to have the dates block remain after the calendar rolls into the 3 month/ or 6 month availability period. Not sure I’ve worded this well. Happy to clarify if it’s confusing.

2

I have not had this issue. I blocked off Thanksgiving with a six month window, and those dates are still blocked. Wish I could be more helpful.

3

I blocked Thanksgiving and Christmas back in January, and they’re still blocked.

4

I can block off dates 6 months away, but if I block off dates that are further away than the 6 months period the block is automatically removed. Was Thanksgiving inside or outside of the period you require guests to book in? Thanks for responding by the way.

5

How long in advance can your guests book?

6

Here is what I do.
Set calendar to 12 months in the future.
Set all my blocks and special pricing and minimum night restrictions, etc.
Set calendar to 3 months in the future.
When it rolls open, it does so with the proper blocks and prices.

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7

It may also be an Australian thing. Sometimes when I’m on Airbnb the help centre will suggest I got to a function that I don’t have.

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8

A while ago there were glitches where dates were suddenly becoming unblocked, eg when I tried Smart Pricing it deleted all the blocks.
Now as an extra precaution I add $1000 to the price of those dates before blocking them so that if a glitch occurs no-one will book them anyway.

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9

That’s what I was going to suggest – put in an astronomical price for the dates you want to block, and then block them.

10

Yes, that’s good advice. I just had a long conversation with someone who called me from the Airbnb service team. She seemed to understand exactly what the problem is and will work with the technical team to somehow fix it. Her only suggestion at this stage had been to turn off IB - but then my bookings get decimated as I’m in the wrong time zone for most of my guests.

11

That’s what I had done. I blocked all those dates at least a year ago as I knew I couldn’t host. But thanks for letting me know how it worked for you.

12

Is the rep. admitting now there was a glitch? And if so, is she going to remove the cancellation notice and penalty fee?

I have had my minimum night stay changed a couple of times, when I didn’t touch it. Others reported the same happened to them.

13

Yes. Here is the reply below. They’ve been great, but the issue isn’t fixed yet.

Dear Georgie,

Thank you for your call. As discussed, I have removed all the penalties normally applied during host cancellation. Since you are not available on these dates, I left the calendar blocked. The automated review has been removed and host fee penalty has been waived.

I also hope to hear from you directly about your feedback. https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback. As you know, we pay immediate attention to any concern/s of our SUPER HOSTS. Rest assured, this will go directly to the relevant department in charge of this.

I appreciate your time on this. As a workaround, you may want to choose manually blocking your calendar first and on the Availability Settings > Booking Window > All future dates.

As an example,

You want to block your calendar on December 26 - 30 and the date you blocked it is Sept 28th. The system will only recognise Dec 26-28, counting exactly 3 months only. If you blocked the same dates on December and the date you blocked it is August, automatically the 3rd month will end by November only.

Applying all future dates will let the system block all the calendars you need to in advance.

Thank you!

14

yes, that has happened to me -

15

so happy it worked out, and thankful for this question as I didn’t even know anything about the 3 month, 6 month, whatever, calendar. I just manually have been blocking months in the future.

Wow - just found that feature!! :flushed:

16

I’m glad it’s been somewhat helpful but I have to be honest and confess that I just don’t understand the instructions she gave me in the example!! Maybe it’s a user issue :blush: