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I have a notice that a guest tried to book this weekend.
The issue is, it shows “waiting for Guest to upload ID” but, my calendar is blocked. They allow up to 24 hours for the guest to upload ID (which he hasn’t done) while blocking the calendar the entire 24 hours.
The profile was created October 2022 (brand new), No reviews (obviously), and no ID. So, would not be the least upset if I lost the booking.
Is there any way to open up the calendar? Or, settings I should check the prevent my calendar from being blocked by this in the future?
What is the date/time of the message you got regarding the ID?
24 hours isn’t really that long for your calendar to be blocked. Sometime between now and the end of the 24-hour period, they’ll either make their profile compliant with your requirements and you can then accept or decline, or your calendar will open.
If it’s been over 24 hours, call and tell ABB to release your calendar and tell them their tech team needs to look into why your calendar was held captive long after the 24 hours was up.
[quote=“jdmlt, post:1, topic:54893”] Is
there any way to open up the calendar? Or, settings I should check the prevent my calendar from being blocked by this in the future?
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No. Airbnb does this intentionally. Pandering to guests over hosts.
If they cared about hosts losing possible bookings while awaiting a pending booking, which might have a failed payment and not end up being confirmed, they would make newbie guests upload their payment info, ID, etc. 24 hrs before being able to book anything.
Unfortunately, there is not a way to unblock your calendar in these instances. I’ve had this happen where the same guest kept sending requests and blocking me for 72 hours during peak season and they never booked. It seems I remember they used to give an option to let you decide if you wanted to block the days while waiting for the account approval but you could decline if you wanted and open your calendar. That seems to have gone by the wayside.
It’s absolutely annoying as heck and makes zero sense as those days would absolutely have booked on my calendar at that time of year. So it was not to Airbnb’s advantage. Or mine!
I can’t speak about blocking calendars while account completed.
What you described is an option for a guest inquiry is pre-approved by the host. The host selects to block calendar or not for the 24 hours the guest may take advantage of the preapproval & book.
I don’t block the preapproval time…too many people rate shopping.
No, as far as I’m aware that was never an option for requests. I believe you are thinking of Inquiries. You have the option on inquiries to hold the dates for an inquirer.
I have never had the experience of having dates blocked for 24 hrs, I think because I tend to get guests who have a history with Airbnb, so their payment info and verified ID is already in the system and approved. So I get booking confirmations almost right away after accepting a request.
I think it’s the newbies who open an account, look for a listing and request a booking, and only then add their payment info, or required ID, that results in these 24 hour blocks while Airbnb verifies their info and charges them. Or guests who have just changed payment info on their accounts, or the host has booking requirements they need to add. That’s my guess, anyway.
yes, this is most annoying! had it happen yesterday but luckily the guest got it sorted in about 4 hours. It’s a booking for tomorrow, so if he’d been allowed to take his time I probably would have lost the chance of a last-minute booking if he’d bailed.
MINUTES count on a booking… if folks cannot see the date open, they will not come back another day to look. When this happens to me all I can think of is that at any time in that period someone will need those days but cannot book, and I will lose that $$$s. After all, people looking to book don’t come back another day… they simply book somewhere else.
I think when airbnb decided that letting a guest book without having the requirements to complete the booking (for my airbnb, it means verified id) they did not take into account that a guest who cannot or will not read the description and requirement is not a good guest. They MAY become one, but I have had just as many of these simply disappear. I assume they did not have verified id, or were had issues with my knowing who they are. But I had 24 hours of pain waiting for a newbie to simply book an air that was not concerned about their id, etc.
Second worst thing is getting an IB from a guest who decides that asking me to ignore one or more of my 7 house rules is somehow a reason to tell ME to cancel them. I am always wondering if meeting them at my door and turning them away after ‘ignoring’ their refusal to show me proof of vaccination) would work. I would LOVE to have a covid denier get turned away for (before entering) telling me they were not going to comply with my rule (which is reason to have them booted).
It absolutely was an option. Plainly asked “do you wish to block these dates while this guest is awaiting verification?” And have a yes/no box. I’ve seen it within the last year.
I remember it well and it had nothing to do with pre-approval. I never pre-approve any requests (as a request usually means they are outside my parameters - pets, longer stays, more than 2 people) and 99% of my Air bookings are instant book.
“Pre-approve” is not an option on requests. Pre-approve and decline are the options on Inquiries. Accept and decline are the options on requests.
Pre-approve just means the guest can go on to book if they choose, but Inquirers often don’t. Preapproving an Inquiry doesn’t obligate the guest in any way, they have to take another step to actually book, but that is on the Airbnb end, not the host’s. Accepting a request is when the calendar gets blocked, and Airbnb proceeds to charge them.
It was for me. The booking was for this weekend. So, this coming weekend was blocked for 24 hours. Maybe not an issue if it is for a month or two in advance. But, sometimes it IS a long time for my calendar to be blocked. They never provided the ID and never completed the booking. So, my calendar is unblocked. But, at this point, I am probably out a booking and the income from this weekend as there are only 2 days left.
Note: There are inquiries, Requests to books, and Instant bookings. The options available for each are different. An inquiry allows you to “pre-approve” and block, or not. This was a Request and I was not given a choice. It just blocked my calendar for 24 hours.
I’ve posted the story before, but this happened to me a few years ago and luckily I was able to direct book by using the dog boarding app Rover. I told her to book her dogs on that app, then she had my address and I had a way to contact her outside Airbnb.
When she arrived she showed my a military ID and gave me the cash for the room. Her pet fee was paid via Rover.
Yes, Muddy, I’m aware and know the difference. I was using the term “request” in the context of the guest requesting something outside my parameters on their inquiry. And stating that I don’t ever pre-approve anything. It starts a barrage of messaging from Airbnb to both host and guest and even continues after the 24 hour approval period, suggesting discounts, special offers, etc. it’s an annoying feature.
Perhaps for your rental and the type of requests you get. I have never used IB, so all my guests send inquiries or requests and none have ever asked for things I don’t offer, nor to accommodate special requests.
And I don’t get any barrage of messages from Airbnb about special offers, discounts, etc, so not sure what that’s about.
You’ve told this forum multiple times you don’t stay in airbnbs when you travel. And looking at your listing, it doesn’t appear you’ve had more than one booking in the past two years. So possibly it’s now different from when you used it last. I was voicing an opinion. Not a fact. Take it anyway you wish.
What does me not yet having used Airbnb as a guest have to do with handling requests and inquiries, sorry, I don’t follow.
Yes, I closed to bookings for 2 years because of Covid and having a homeshare in which I share the kitchen with guests. (I did have some direct bookings, though, from guests I knew were fully vaxed)
My first booking after that was in early May. So perhaps something has changed between then and now, but I certainly didn’t get any messages from Airbnb re special offers or discounts when I had that request in late April, and there was no 24 wait after I accepted that request, because the guest wasn’t a newbie, all her info was already verified and the booking was confirmed right away. Nor was there anything asking if I wanted to block the dates pending verification, nor has there ever been, unless it was only in effect sometime during the 2 years when I wasn’t taking Airbnb bookings.
But the question about blocking dates has always been there on Inquiries.
As for annoying features, like the list of “Opportunities” on my hosting pages that suggest what I could do to get more bookings, none of which I will ever do because they don’t work for me or my listing, I simply ignore them.
(My favorite on that list is to add “Heat”. I live in the tropics.)
Your guest in May “wasn’t a newbie…was already verified” and was able to book so, no, you would not have experienced the issue that this post was based on. You’ve taken something completely unrelated and tried to make it relative. The example was new users, awaiting verification.
The fact that you have repeatedly said “there has never been” an option to block or not is just rude and basically says I’m lying. I have done this for almost 7 years. I know what I’m talking about. The fact that you, personally, haven’t experienced it does not mean it wasn’t/might still be a feature to some hosts, somewhere in the world. Most of your posts on here seem to be anecdotal, not from actual experience, so there’s that.
Regarding pre-approval, if you had traveled as a guest and had a host send you a pre-approval, you would know what I’m talking about. Air will send constant reminders during the 24 hr period of pre-approval that the listing you’re interested in is still available! Over and over. On one I looked at in Pittsburgh for my sons graduation, Air followed up a year to the date later to see if I wanted to make a trip to Pittsburgh as Annie’s place was still available and I had shown interest. That’s the annoying part I’m talking about. I know they are algorithms but they are still frustrating.
And from the host side when you send a pre-approval, for 24 hours they badger us to send a special offer, change the dates to something that works for the guest, etc.
I have all marketing, push notifications, messaging etc. turned off but these are a whole other breed. The “opportunities “ you mention, again, not relevant to this subject. I’ve had guests tell me the same, that they feel badgered by the aggressive nature of the messaging after they’ve received a pre-approval. Especially when they’re trying to decide between multiple places and receive multiple pre-approvals. So, it’s an option I choose not to use. That’s all I was saying. And you not having had it happen doesn’t make it not so.
