Checkpoint (Verification Pending)

The “checkpoint” concept I believe has been discussed/referenced here a couple of times, but I don’t remember a screenshot, so I thought I would add one. This is the first time I have actually caught it on my calendar.
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Thanks @jumoe

I had this last week but the booking didn’t go through or the guest chose another place or something. I did end up booking the night to someone else who reserved just a day ahead of time. With all the last minute bookings I get it’s a bit annoying to have my calendar blocked for up to 12 hours.

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I have noticed this before and am wondering if this is a test group or new policy. I do not have the ID verification on but still am getting the “checkpoint”. Which I am not opposed to just curious as the individual I have possibly coming in has been a member for 2 years. Do you know what triggers the checkpoint? Is it just ID verification?

I have seen it lot’s of time. I usually phone Air and ask them to clear the calendar and they do. Why should I have my calendar booked on a maybe for 12 hours?

I know this is old, but I just got this for the first time (that I’m aware of). I’m not worried about it blocking my calendar since the reservation is for April 22, which is 70 days away. I got a notification around 9:30am that looked like I had a new message from a guest, but there was no message. Just an empty conversation and all of the typical reservation information except that the status was “AWAITING VERIFICATION”.

It’s been 6 hours with no change, so I sent a message to the guest asking if he needed any help and reminding him that the system will automatically cancel if the verification is not completed within 12 hours of booking.

Edit: The booking now says Cancelled, REQUEST WITHDRAWN, which I expected. I don’t think the guest actually withdrew it, but it was automatically cancelled because the guest did not complete their Goverment ID verification.

2nd Edit: The guest Instant Booked this morning, so he must’ve completed the ID verification after the booking was cancelled and then just re-booked.

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This is an absolute disaster. Its a huge bug.
A guest or competitor can create an account and send a request and block your calendar at the last minute for 12 hours. and Airbnb and Host are powerless to remove the user who is stuck in “checkpoint” status. FIX is ABB!! This has been an issue for over a year!

Hi James! Welcome!

As an FYI, we aren’t Airbnb affiliated, we are a privately funded group of hosts. So urging Airbnb to fix something here is merely venting.

I don’t know what kind of rental you have but the idea that a fellow host would go to all this trouble is quite the reach.

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It isn’t a bug that Airbnb needs to “fix”, although most hosts hate it. Airbnb wants it that way because they want no impediments to guests booking. Require a few days advance notice if you don’t want guests blocking the calendar for the following day.

I disagree. Why would requests and inquiries from verified guests NOT block others from booking, but a brand new user gets stuck in “checkpoint” status because they don’t have a profile pic? And this causes a 12 hour block to the calendar? I called ABB both times this happened and the support person was shocked they couldn’t remove the request. I do t think it happens EVERY time either. Because I had another request 'awaiting verification ’ which WAS NOT stuck in checkpoint and WAS NOT blocking calendar. 12 hour hold IS a major impediment to guests booking last minute. Host and ABB can lose out on lots of money because of this bug. All they need to do is allow support to clear someone stuck in checkpoint status that is unresponsive and blocking calendar. I wasted 2 hours trying to find a workaround. Finally I had to change the unit setup so abb thought I had two identical units and so it displayed the second unit for rent, and I immediately got a request/booking at 7pm for same night. A family stuck in our ski town not wanting to drive home. This bug would have prevented us from connecting and hosting them.

Not sure what you disagree about. Requests from verified users don’t block the calendar because their data is already on file. So if you accept their request, their payment method is instantly charged and the booking is confirmed.

It’s the new users, who open an account, then instantly go to book something before they have entered all the data that this happens with.

What Airbnb needs to do is not allow new users to try to book a place until after their info has been entered and verified.

But as I said, they don’t want to do that because they don’t want to put any impediments in the path of guests booking.

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I agree with you. Except they could easily not block other guests from booking no matter what. First come first serve. The reasoning you suggest doesn’t make sense because 99% of the time the guest in ‘checkpoint’ purgatory does not follow through and book if it’s same day. So the checkpoint prevents anyone else from booking. So it’s not in ABB’s interest or the host to block the calendar for any amount of time unless host checks the box to ‘hold for guest’ when pre approving.

Anyway, I have a work around for anyone connected to ABB with API and channel manager. I figured out a way to clear the airbnb checkpoint blocking calendar. In your PMS or CM, change your inventory from 1 (blocked by checkpoint), to 2. Now airbnb thinks you have 2 identical units to rent and it opens your calendar. Once you see the calendar open (usually a minute or two) you can change inventory back to 1. I also changed the price in PMS by $1. Somehow the API sending these updates clears the checkpoint block from your calendar. I hope this helps someone else searching for this problem in the future. :slight_smile:
You could also try changing inventory to zero and back to 1. Safer to have no risk of double booking.

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