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Hi, I have 3 new airbnb listings in Kingston, NY. They got listed mid September with bookings starting October 1. Immediately the first 4 weekends got booked, but the last October weekend–Halloween weekend–remained stubbornly silent. Today, I got an inquiry for one of the places saying this: “I’m trying to book for October 29 to 31st but it’s blocking me because of a “party” stipulation or something. I’m a 56 year old non drinker/smoker overall most boring person alive and it will be just me and maybe my 60 year old friend who doesn’t party either. I’m coming to sightsee not party Is there any way to override this?”
I preapproved her and got all sorts of “be careful” warnings which I ignored and overrode. WTH? I sent a note to Airbnb asking if they are somehow blocking reservations for that weekend. Has anyone else heard of this/ dealt with this? My places are small – 2, 4 guests. The largest allows 6. So far I have had very small groups who have been wonderful. They just aren’t party houses and I’m not worried in the least about this!
Lord, have mercy, that thread went off the rails, BUT very interesting to learn about the policy. It feels extreme and I don’t like it. I wonder if my override will work? Will Airbnb allow the pre-approved booking, I wonder? I wonder, too, if it will “lift” the ban on the other properties now that I’ve complained to them. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for citing the thread, KKC. I appreciate it.
Yes, last year Airbnb cancelled a guest who had a Halloween reservation here. I wasn’t able to intervene – the system just up and did it and sent notifications to both of us. I would have offered a workaround (private booking) if she had wanted, but she just immediately booked another weekend. I had no one over Halloween.
This year I have a one-nighter booked on the 30th, but the guest has four reviews and a five-star rating, so the system has let it stand.
My calendar is currently closed to all except direct bookings with repeat guests. A friend will be here the 30th and 31st and I was closed last year at this time as well so I have no personal knowledge of what they are doing.
I have a 2-person suite and a single booked it to visit a friend at a nearby university over Halloween weekend with no problems. So they’re using some kind of filter.
I would try and get the guest to google me and book direct. I am glad you found my listing name in my town I know it’s hard to sort through when you search online…
That may work if you have a searchable listing name.
It sucks, air won’t book them and you cannot give them a way to contact you to book direct.
I know those blocks don’t happen on shared home listings, so they may also not be applied on a suite in your home. They are pegged to entire house listings.
That’s really interesting. My October has been booked for awhile (sort of easy where I am as it’s a big event month) with the exception of Halloween weekend. I can see my listing as available but I guess that doesn’t mean anything as it sounds like the block comes with the attempt to book. It’ll be interesting to see if I get any requests or inquiries.
UPDATE: guest could NOT accept my preapproved invite, which ticks me off. There was nothing about this woman–56 years old, booking for just herself, for 2 nights, one of which happened to be Halloween–that was risky imho. I’ll allow for Air warning me, but I should hav a right as a host and homeowner to override that block given the situation. Maddening. BUT we managed to figure out a way to reach each other off of air and she private-booked with me for the 2 nights. So that’s good!
Funny, in the meantime, another booking came in for 3 nights for another unit and air allowed that (so far). so maybe in my location 3 nights during the halloween weekend is the magic #.
So one unit–the more expensive one–remains empty. But at least I know why and at least the whole weekend isn’t a wash.
The Airbnb party block is for 1 & 2 night rentals. Let your guest book for 3 nights & send them a special offer that removes fee for 1 night. E.g. $50/ night x3 nights. Special offer $100
I couldn’t get the link to the article Airbnb shared to work so here’s screen shots:
We get so many emails, it is easy to miss one. Notice this came out in August. Plus I don’t think Airbnb sends everything to everyone so just do the best you can. This group is a good resource
You could send an offer to the guest that wasn’t able to book offering her a 3 night stay for the same amount of a 2 night stay? Maybe that’s the way to get around it.
As a result, this coming Halloween we’ll again institute restrictions on one and two-night stays in the U.S and Canada for entire home listings while also utilizing our other robust party prevention systems.
I did an incognito search for this weekend and at least one of your places was at the top of search. It’s not available at halloween so can’t check and the other house isn’t available this week. I didn’t check the duplex.
Yes. They did this last year too. And I imagine that they will also do it for New Year’s as they did last year. I have never allowed a 2 day booking for those times anyway, because it makes sense, most of the time.
