Today I had my calendar blocked without knowing it by Airbnb as they don’t let you know when a guest is going through verification. I only found out when the Air Conditioning contractor called to tell me he would be able to install my new mini split service and service my central A/C if he could work Friday and Saturday. It’s hot and humid here in NY and I’ve waited for this appointment for weeks so I said yes. Then I thought, let me block Friday and Saturday only to see Sat/Sun blocked for the verification. So I had to wait until the guest was verified and requested to book. I explained the situation to her and told her I thought they’d be done by her Saturday arrival but as I don’t have control I wanted her to be comfortable. Then I started to stress! She did get back to me and said that it sounded like they’d be done but to update me when I knew better what the schedule was. How can I do that within 24 hours, impossible. So I politely declined and explained that in an over abundance of caution it would be best to decline her reservation. She would have otherwise been a fine guest as she and her daughter were visiting here for a nieces engagement and she used to live here. But I don’t want to risk one of those disasters anything can go wrong when work is being done. Anyway, it’s now blocked and if they finish up early enough on Saturday I’ll unblock the dates and let her know. Sorry to be so long, what do y’all think?
I would have said, “hey this is going on, don’t know when they will be done. If they don’t finish I’ll refund half your money. Do you want me to accept or decline?” Or asked her to cancel and pick someone else. Decline hurts us in search ranking.
Too much stress and there are only 8 listings on the island and most are booked so I don’t care much about search rankings. And offering a refund is just not my style unless I am responsible. Anyway, she didn’t get back to me when I asked her if I should accept or decline. She’s also brand new to Airbnb
Yeah, for me, a bird in the hand…half a bird even. 
A guest blocked your calendar before they even submitted a booking request for your property?
I would have declined also, the worry of the possible stress of what may go wrong while a guest was here and workers working…would have not been worth it to me.
Know that at least you will not have the worry of the AC for all your future guests.
They submitted a booking request before they were verified which we require and Airbnb blocks the dates.
Got a lovely response from the guest:
I understand. Please let me know Saturday, as my options are limited. Staying in CI is our first choice (even with A/C issue). Hope we get to meet. Michele
I will unblock and approve her if the work is done on time and no mess!
It’s all these little stress-outs about what may happen that are difficult isn’t it? Here it turns out this woman seems to be the perfect guest!
@brook2adks
And I knew this before i corresponded with her based on her initial request. I hope I’ll be able to accept her if the work goes smoothly. I just felt better not putting either of us through stress!