If I send a guest with a confirmed reservation an alteration request to move their dates, does the request hold the new dates?
Edited to add: I blocked the new dates for them but AirBnB won’t let me select blocked dates for an alteration request.
Since no one seemed to know the answer, I unblocked the nights then tried it. For a safety net, I increased the price of the new nights by $1000 US a night so no one would book it, then adjusted the price on the alteration request back to what it should be. Fingers crossed it works!
What did airbnb say when you asked them?
I did an alteration the other day (first time ever) but never thought to check whether it blocked nights.
But because I had to change my max night setting to do so, and didn’t want anyone else to sneak in there and book more than my usual 2 week max, I arranged a time with the guest when she’d be free to accept the alteration, so I could change the max stay setting back right after she accepted. I didn’t want to send it while she was at work, on an hour long Zoom call, asleep, or otherwise occupied.
This might be a good practice in general, whether the nights get blocked or not, or whether you want them to be or not, so the alteration request doesn’t sit there languishing for half a day, either preventing others from booking if the dates are blocked, or someone sneaking in and booking them in the meantime if they aren’t.
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I didn’t contact them but I did read their help article on it. The article didn’t say anything.
But my approach of raising the rates on the new nights but adjusting the alteration request total worked. The guest accepted the request shortly after I sent it so it all turned out well.
I just wish there was an option to hold the new dates for a period of time if the owner makes the alteration request.
I’ve arranged a time before, too, to make changes like this. But I wish the programmers would spend their time improving processes like these instead of moving amenities around or adding questions on what brand of shampoo you offer
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I agree. While a lot of hosts would say never to hold dates unless a guest is ready to pay, I have done it before when I have reason to trust that the guest is serious. But then you have to unblock so that guest can book or alter when they are ready, and if they don’t do it right away, another guest can IB or send a request for those now open dates.
It would be helpful if there were a way to block dates for a specific guest, that allow that guest to book them without the host having to remove the block.
This was a different situation. The guest had booked already (May 2024), then Air Canada cancelled their flights and moved them to different dates (Wed-Wed instead of Fri-Fri). Our cancellation policy is Strict, so he asked very politely if he could move the dates to match his new flight. That didn’t work well for me but I hated to just say no way, so I offered some dates that were fairly close to their original and worked better for me. I held them for him for up to three days while they checked their schedules and changed flights. Worked out for everyone in the end.
But I usually don’t hold if someone just asks before booking. Almost none of those have ever ended up booking, and most simply ghost me instead of letting me know it doesn’t work for them after all.
I wouldn’t normally block dates for a guest either, but I did it once when the guest had sent an inquiry first, then said she needed to book her flight and would get back to me. She sounded serious about booking, communicated really well and had lovely reviews, so I wanted her as a guest. When she didn’t get back to me after a week, I messaged asking her if she was still wanting to book, in case someone else requested her dates, I would have to accept.
She wrote back right away, apologizing, explained that she has a fear of flying and always procrastinates booking flights, but said she definitely still wanted to come, thanked me for prodding her, that she’d get right on it, so I blocked the dates, she booked her flight, and got back to me within the hour so I could unblock and she could book.
She turned out to be one of my favorite guests.
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