I have set my Trip Length Minimum Stay to 4 nights, for EVERY night Sun-Sat.
However, I often get requests to stay for 2 or 3 days. What is going on?
Sometimes folks only need less days than your minimum, so they ask.
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Are you getting actual Request to Book? That shouldnât happen for less than your minimum if you have a minimum set.
Is it possible that people are just sending Inquiries for 2 or 3 days becauseâŚwell, probably because they are super-special and you should change all of your stuff just for them? ,) I get Inquiries all of the time asking for shorter stays or longer stays or even dates that are booked already.
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Theyâre sending requests because they canât book. THEY SHOULDNâT BE ABLE TO REQUEST DAYS THAT ARENâT AVAILABLE. I just got a booking for tonight when guests just checked out and someone requested,
At least when it was elevated to the second level, he cancelled.
I just tried to do what youâre talking about as a ânon-hostâ and itâs not giving me the option to ask the host a question. It is telling Me thereâs a 4 night minimum, and not allowing me to progress any further unless I state that I want to book for the 4 nights.
Iâm actually asking the guest now via âmessageâ to see if it didnât tell him there was a four night minimum, or if he got around the issue somehow.
Guests typically will make a request for booking for some four night minimum for instance a month from now and then send a message saying âwe just put that in but we really only need Xâ. Itâs to your advantage to receive questions like this since you may be comfortable giving three out of four nights In that timeframe.
I believe it said âRequest to Stayâ and gave me the option to Accept or Decline. I couldnât replicate what he did when I went on as a traveler. I guess he did think he was quite special, but I had actually jacked up the nightly rates prior to his request, thinking that we may have used the condo that weekend. So our payout was the same as if heâd booked 4 nights at the regular rates. Also, he said heâs getting in at 2:30 in the morning, so it actually is only a 2 night rental for a 3 night price.
I messaged him and he said he wasnât sure how he did it, but it DID tell him 4 night minimum.
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Are you folks saying that the dates the guests entered on a Booking Request contravened your settings, or that they asked in their message for that? Because as far as Iâm aware, dates that are not available to be booked cannot be entered on a request.
If they are just asking if youâll accept a shorter booking, guests can ask you to provide caviar for their emotional support puppy if they want to.
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Even though my max is 7 nights, I had someone ask about a monthly rate. Gave her the reasons why it was a no.
Well if it was a Request, then that is very annoying and definitely a glitch of some sort. Unless, did he put in the request with a date span that met your minimum but then just asked for a shorter stay? I get those too, a real Request telling me they want something other than what they technically requested, where an Inquiry would be better. For reference, Inquiries give the option to Pre-Approve or Decline, but itâs a trick, you donât have to do either, you can just write a response.
The way they asked was a request that I could accept or deny their request. After we texted back and forth regarding some questions I had, I hit approve, and a 3 night stay was approved.
Inquiries give the options to Pre-approve (not Accept) or Decline. Not trying to be pedantic, but some newer hosts or those used to getting IB bookings donât understand the difference in the way an Inquiry and a Request are handled. If it says Pre-approve, itâs an Inquiry, and yes, it only requires a message back to the inquirer, which Airbnb conveniently neglects to mention.
It was a 3 day that didnât meet my minimum request that I ended up accepting. At least he told me he was aware there was a 4 day minimum but thought heâd ask. At least now I know that the potential guest knows the minimum nights policy so when I tell them no, they arenât surprised.
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Weâll I hit accept and it booked. It didnât preapprove.
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Fixed it!
More importantly, if it says Inquiry then itâs an Inquiry.
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Quite true, and thatâs always been evident to me, but Iâve been surprised by the number of new hosts who seem not to notice that, or say they received a sketchy Request and donât know whether to pre-approve it or decline. 
There is a setting under booking settings/calendar/trip length that asks to manually approve requests that are outside of your booking range. It probably defaults to yes when you set up your listing these days. I would check there and see what is selected.
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@DozerPug I just spent 20 minutes trying to find such a setting without success. I looked at all the settings for the listing. Where is it?
@NordlingHouse Hereâs a screenshot showing it. Hope this helps.
Edit: This setting is only available with IB as you are reviewing everything with request to book.
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Thereâs only a setting for longer stays, but not one for same day booking (which I donât allow, but this system glitch did) or for stays shorter than 2 nights. I donât want them to be able to request booking for either.
As I have said many times, they need to fire their entire software development team and get someone competent.
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