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It is only logical that hosts need to set (and sometimes update/edit) their rates often before they are actually bookable. That is the only way to prevent travelers from booking them at an undesired rate when they become bookable as per your Availability Window (we allow 12 months in advance).
As such, why on Earth does AirBnB consider dates not yet bookable to be uneditable too? What does not allowing a traveler to book a future date yet have to do with the host setting the rate for it? The only awkward work around is to change our advance Availability Window setting while we edit, then set it back again (and hope we don’t forget to, or that no one books further in advance while we are working on it).
I deliberately called in and asked “Are hosts able to edit rates on dates that are not yet bookable” and as is often the case, I got an immediate “yes”. Then when I asked her to show me she had to keep checking and put me on hold and contact a supervisor and get back to me only to say I was right, and that it cannot be done without changing the settings back and forth. Again, this is tedious and can create possible issues as mentioned above, especially when you have multiple listings.
Anyone else have any suggestions or input that may help?
I only have a 3 month in advance window open and I update all my pricing for the year in January. I have no issues pricing through to the end of the year.
How is that even possible when the sidebar does not allow you to edit unbookable dates? It will say UNAVAILABLE DUE TO AVAILABILITY WINDOW SETTINGS or something like that, without letting you enter a rate.
Are you us9ng a laptop and the actual site? I find the app doesn’t have things “stick” quite often.
Jusrt went to september 2024 and had no issues closing / updating the nightly rate.
How about if you temporarily opened up your booking window, quickly made changes, and then immediately went back tom the shorter window? Would that work?
Yes, desktop website and it has always been the case in our nine years with AirBnB, when it is beyond the availability window it doesn’t give the option to set or edit the rate (same as if there was already a booked reservation).
…but that is not practical for the reasons I explained and also runs the risk of errors. My point is that setting or editing a rate for the host should in no way have anything to do with when a traveler can book the date, if it is as yet unbookable but otherwise active and unbooked.
I’m sorry but I really think you may not be clicking on the right box or something. I only have a 3-month advance setting but am able to change prices and rule sets well into 2024 (maybe further but I didn’t try past that).
What does it look like that keeps you from changing unavailable and/or blocked dates?
Now I’m confused because I have always seen this to be the case for years and after the rep consulted a supervisor or tech or something she responded that the problem is due to the Availability Window setting and she too suggested the only workaround was to temporarily make all future dates bookable then remember to set it back when done editing.
Here is a screenshot for instance when I select all of January 2024 (more than our 12-month advance availability window):
Oh geez! After all of you started saying you can indeed edit rates for unavailable dates something just occurred to me: Maybe you all are using the standard single calendar and not the multi-calendar. That is not practical for me when I have multiple rentals with multiple rate periods on multiple sites and platforms, as it would take me about 4x longer to complete. But just to satisfy my curiosity I tried it an lo and behold, it works! So the choice is either do it the slowest way one rental at a time and spend a lot more time doing it or have to keep changing my Availability Window settings back and forth each time.
Here are screenshots with all of January 2024 selected when editing rates on both the individual and multi-calendar:
But once I had brought this to their attention (multiple times) and they say they consulted a supervisor or tech then why didn’t they know or tell me this is an issue with just the multi-calendar and why haven’t they addressed this highly problematic functionality issue after all this time? Am I the only one with multiple properties who edits rates? Surely they realize we have to edit and set rates before people can book them.
Yes, that’s the issue. I haven’t been using the multi-calendar because I’ve only had one of my listings open on Airbnb for a while now. I’ve blocked the calendars on the other two.
I just looked and it’s so strange but, indeed, you can’t change the price on blocked or not-yet-available dates anymore. It’s so dumb.
However, you can still add and change rule sets on those dates. I think that is your easiest and most efficient workaround. You can do rule sets for a percentage of increase or decrease in price for any group of selected dates (whether blocked or not) under Nightly price.
Select a group of dates and listings in the future that are not-yet-available or blocked and have a nightly price of $160. If you want to change the price to $120/night then you’d apply a rule set of “25% decrease”. It would be the same as going in and changing the price to $120.
Another factor may be using Google Chrome web browser. Airbnb is optimized for best performance using the latest version of Chrome
I have Safari on my iPad & although using the website, Airbnb doesn’t provide full functionality.
I have an old version of Chrome on my laptop (need to replace & can’t update Chrome) it does not have full functionality of newer Chrome
I know this because when I screen share with new hosts I recommend they use Chrome & always always always their screens display differently & with more functionality.
Thanks for the advice. Yes, I do use Rule Sets but mostly for weekly and monthly discounts. We have six rate periods each year (recently down from eight) so it may be impractical to use rule sets to change the price but I will consider it. Fortunately, I just finished adding the 2024 rates the old way of lifting my Availability Window while editing then made sure to reinstate it. At least I don’t have to worry about for another year now. I have done all our platforms except Expedia which I am going to do now.
Really, I don’t know why more sites don’t simply allow us to set “roll-over” rates and rate periods so we don’t have to keep repeatedly entering the same rates over and over each year unless and until we need to change them.
Thanks but I am already using the latest Google Chrome and the issue was definitely as I reported above pertaining to the multi-calendar. So two issues with them: they did not allow for this most necessary feature in the multi-calendar and then they didn’t tell me it is an issue with the multi-calendar when I asked (even after supposedly consulting a supervisor or tech guy).
@SWLinPHX
I’m not surprised they Airbnb tech didn’t tell you. Yesterday I helped a host create a calendar for his third listing that combined listing 1 & 2 to be a “book both” listing using the “linked Airbnb calendars” function. Airbnb told him that function didn’t exist & he needed to block days on the combined calendar manually (Insert smack forehead while rolling eyes here)
This doesn’t surprise me in the least. The majority of CS reps seem to be largely clueless about almost everything and often give out completely erroneous info and advice. The techie they supposedly consulted may or may not have mentioned anything about using the monthly calendar. If you didn’t specifically ask “Would I be able to do this on the monthly calendar?” they wouldn’t likely think to volunteer that simple info.
Airbnb reminds me of going to a govt. office here in Mexico in the way they fail to give complete information, only answering the specific question (that is, when they do answer your question instead of sending you useless Help pages links)
“Hi, I have a 2pm appointment with XX.”
“Yes, have a seat.”
I sit there for 20 minutes.
“Excuse me, but I have other things to do- when might I be able to talk to XX?”
“He’s not in the office right now.” Goes back to filing her nails.
Oh yes, I share your frustration. The problem is the longer you have been doing something and the more skilled or knowledgeable you are, the more likely you are to reach a rep (at any customer service call center) who is newer or knows less than you. Happens to me all the time.
Here’s a tip for the future, although I can’t guarantee it will always work. When I have had a question that I know only a certain dept. would be able to knowledgably answer, the first line in my message to CS reads TECH DEPT. ISSUE, or TRUST AND SAFETY ISSUE (yes, I shout it in all caps- I want it to jump out at them). Then I go on to very briefly state the issue, and end with something like “Please pass this question on to the appropriate team, thank you.”
This has resulted in actually getting a message back, “Hi, XX, this is YY from the Airbnb tech dept. and I will be happy to help you with your issue today. Can you tell me if you have tried… and send a screenshot of what you are seeing when trying to…”. In other words, it has appeared that the front line clueless CS reps are perfectly happy to get you off their roster of cases and pass it on, you just have to specifically ask them to. They are pressured to resolve cases ASAP, so passing it on directly to an appropriate team member if asked to by the user might satisfy that requirement, i.e. they did what you asked them to, it’s now in someone else’s hands, their case with you is closed.
Are you referring only to written requests for help? What about phone calls, which I rely a lot on, especially for more urgent matters or immediate responses.
