Why does an UNaccepted booking block dates?

[Daniel33]

So I got an ask for a pre-aproval and I answered and pre-approved it. One hour later I got a direct booking request from somebody else for the same dates - that I did NOT accept yet - and that blocked the dates for the alrady pre-approved one. There is again the red "pre-approve"-button on the correspondence-page of the first interessent, but when I click it, it tells me that those dates are not free.

So airbnb takes the decicicion who I accept and who not?

This page really gets bader and bader every day. Is airbnb too successful at the moment to think one halve second every year about the needs of it's users? Maybe they should take into accout, that success is not something that stays automatically and if they are worsening so rapidly it is very well possible that soon it changes - bad for airbnb, bad for the guests and bad for the hosts. Too bad.

In the concrete case I would prefer the first interessent. I would love to wait some more hours until she eventually really books, and only if not, accept the second one. But airbnb took the decicion. That's unacceptable and arrogant.

Will airbnb even go so far to block those dates if I refuse the second request with the purpose to free the dates for the first one? I'll give it a try...

[Andrea9]

@Daniel33 Since a booking request is a commitment to actually book it takes precedence over a booking inquiry which is the equivalent of showing interest. A pre-approval only communicates that the host is willing to accept the guest. First come, first served.

[Daniel33]

It is not an "immediate booking", it is just a booking request. I understand the "First come, first served"-rule, but I did NOT accept this booking request and it is unacceptable that airbnb block dates without my consent.

In the concrete case the blocking booking request comes from somebody with an empty profile, no information, blurred photo... and prior to eventually accept it I would have asked them to provide some information.

I do accept "immediate bookings" of people with good reputation, and in such a case the "First come, first served"-rule should apply just as if there are several pre-approvals for the same period. But blocking dates for unapproved requests makes no sense at all.

I am glad I saw this immediately. If I would have been away and only had seen it some hours later, the first person would maybe have tried to book without success and decided for another place...

[Amaris0]

Hi,

Just to clarify the situation and prior to responding, can you confirm that I have understood you correctly -

1) The first guest sent you an inquiry 

2) The second guest did not book instantly using IB

3) The second guest sent you a booking request as opposed to an inquiry

Ama

[Daniel33]

@Amaris0

Yes to all...

[Dede0]

@Daniel33 If you want to take a chance on the first, mere pre-approval, inquiry (which is not a sure thing, despite the pre-approval) you are free to Decline the later-arrived, full-on (and guaranteed) Booking request. At that point, the temporary block on your calendar would go away. And then you can wait and see if the earlier inquiry actually turns into a Booking. If i were you, I would check out the full Booker's credentials and, if they're acceptable, approve that booking. In reality, most pre-approval requests lead to nothing, as the people that submit them are usually submitting the same to multiple hosts at the same time and then cherry-picking among those that pre-approve.

In the future, before you get all pissed and high-and-mighty, I respectfully suggest that you make an effeort to understand how this glorious mess actually works. You can start by going into AirBnB's help system (*not* these host forums), and then clicking and searching around, and reading the abundant information that's offered there.

[Daniel33]

@Dede0Yes, I declined the later-arrived booking request. Yes, the pre-approved earlier pre-approval request then booked the room.

In my experience, except in the very beginnings, more than 90% of all pre-approval requests that I approve lead to an actual booking.

I posted here because there is no way to contact airbnb in a fruitful manner, in the (probably unrealistic) hope, that someone of airbnb reads it and thinks about it.

I don't need to read thru the help system to see that a booking request blocks the dates even if I have NOT approved it. As stated in an earlier post, it seems logic to me that an "immediate booking" (don't know the corrrect word in english, I mean those that are automatically accepted) blocks the dates and thus makes only pre-approved but not booked requests impossible. That's fine and correct.

What is NOT correct is, that a booking request that I did not accept yet makes it impossible to book for a pre-approvel request that I accepted.

The correct process would be that the dates stay open until *I* accept a booking or a pre-approved one or an "immediate" one books. In the concrete case this would have given me the chance to ask the ones from the booking request for some details about themselves and wait some hours to give the pre-approved one the chance to do the booking.

I don't like to decline people just for not having a complete profile. Many new-to-airbnb people have meaningless profiles in the beginning. I can understand that because not everybody wants to put a lot of information on websites they don't really know yet.

So in these cases I'd like to ask for some information and then decide. It seems unacceptable to me that airbnb blocks the dates during this process thus making it impossible to book for the already pre-approved, and literally forcing me to decline such a request before I have the basis for the decision.

[Andrea9]

@Daniel33 

and if you do decline the booking request as @Dede0 said, make sure you uncheck the little box "Block these dates" that is automatically checked. Otherwise your calender is blocked too.

And yes, you are welcome to have other hosts take out private time to answer your question.

And yes, it helps when situations are described properly  for us hosts to know what is actually being asked.

And yes, being blasted by the asker for not having guessed properly exactly what the question  or situation was supposed to have been is not so nice for us fellow hosts after trying to help and might make us regret having tried to do so.

And addressing people with @their name makes an email notification about your answer to them land in their email box.

[Daniel33]

@Andrea9

I am sorry if you feel blasted by my answer, it wasn't ment so. I read again my initial post and I think it was quite clear, but ok, maybe my english was not sufficient to describe the situation understandable. In any case I am not critisizing you or your answer but airbnb's process.

I did not know that I have to put an "@" to address the answer as I clicked "Reply" under the corresponding post...