I am taking Calendar issues to the top!

[Robin4]

I think enough is enough, and time has come for the hosting community to become pro-active.

Contributor Nikki from London reported in a post on January 20th 2016 that her booking calendar was randomly unblocking dates that she had blocked!

Since that post there have been over 300 posts in this past year reporting exactly the same issue….and these are just the tip of the iceberg, these are the ones that have come to the forum! The common thread in almost all of these instances is the use of Instant Book where the rolling calendar window is concerned. The Airbnb program is unblocking dates a host has blocked. And what is totally reprehensible is Airbnb are punishing hosts who cancel bookings as a result of dates they had legitimately blocked and which the system has, behind the hosts back, unblocked. Superhosts, who strive to do so much good for Airbnb, are loosing their status through an Airbnb fault.....not their own!

Here is a typical example.....

Chris

Level 2

in

Lawrence Township, NJ

‎03-10-2016 07:02 AM

I have my listing set so it won't receive reservations more than 90 days out. Every day, it unblocks a day at that borderland. It seems like when they release the day internally because it's no longer more than 90 days out, that unblock overrides the dates I have manually blocked in the calendar.

Because I have limited availability, this pattern has become obvious to me.  If you only blocked dates occassionally, it would be a huge mystery.  I've brought the issue to the attention of AirBNB and they told me to clear my browser data. I've explained in more detail and am providing screenshots, but they haven't even been willing to tell me the status of my ticket."

There are dozens more just like this one!!! This fault….and that is exactly what it is….it’s a fault, has been reported to Airbnb staff on numerous occasions and the complaints just keep growing and growing! More reports come to this forum daily. Obviously nobody is taking the slightest notice.

With all due respect to the Community Centre moderators, I am not convinced that posting on ‘Host Voice’ does any good whatsoever. I have not seen a solitary change as a result of any topic raised through Host Voice.

I am going to send this post to brian.chesky@airbnb.com  and see what happens. I would like as many other hosts as possible to paste this post into an email and do the same thing.

This issue has been with us for more than a year, If we can’t get those responsible for sorting this mess out to take action, then we have to go further up the chain until someone does!!!

Cheers....Rob

[Robin4]

I have my listing set so it won't receive reservations more than 90 days out. Every day, it unblocks a day at that borderland. It seems like when they release the day internally because it's no longer more than 90 days out, that unblock overrides the dates I have manually blocked in the calendar.

Because I have limited availability, this pattern has become obvious to me.  If you only blocked dates occassionally, it would be a huge mystery.  I've brought the issue to the attention of AirBNB and they told me to clear my browser data. I've explained in more detail and am providing screenshots, but they haven't even been willing to tell me the status of my ticket."

There are dozens more just like this one!!! This fault….and that is exactly what it is….it’s a fault, has been reported to Airbnb staff on numerous occasions and the complaints just keep growing and growing! More reports come to this forum daily. Obviously nobody is taking the slightest notice.

[Marit-Anne0]

Good idea @Robin4

Here is my contribution to the storytelling: 

"Hello Marit and Kristine! Your apartment sounds absolutely lovely. My husband Adam and I we recently married in October. We will be visiting Norway (and later Iceland) for our honeymoon. We are looking to explore the great outdoors, including the Fjords and mountains, the food, the culture, and just have a great time."

"Dear Emily, Unfortunately, I have some not so good news. You have actually been able to book dates that were already blocked in my calendar and my place is occupied for your dates. I believe it is an airbnb software glitch as I know from the host forum that this has happened to others. Still, I feel I am in the middle of a nightmare - we always hope that the unfortunate things do not happen to us 😞  As soon as I discovered I contacted airbnb help to seek assistance."

"That is terrible news! I'm sorry that I will not get to stay at your place, but I thank you very much for being so professional and prompt with contacting Airbnb and also suggesting another great place."

When such things happen it really gives airbnb a bad reputation and I can fully understand that guests look elsewhere to book their accomodation.

[Huma0]

Hi @Robin4, this happened to me for the first time yesterday. I came home to find my inbox inundated with booking requests. Hooray! Until I realised they were for a room I had blocked all dates for for some months as I have a long-term housemate in that room for now. Airbnb seemed to have randomly unblocked certain dates here and there. Luckily I don't use Instant Book!

I was able to offer some of these guests an alternative room for the dates they requested, but for others I could not, and one particular guest was very disappointed.

I also had a few requests for bookings where two people were coming but they had only put one guest in the booking request. One couple had even sent two individual requests for the same dates rather than one request for two people. When I asked the guests to amend the booking, they all cancelled instead!

So, not a great day for me. I'm sure the two things aren't related, but it seemed like my Airbnb account was going into some sort of meltdown...

[Maya41]

I am absolute miffed, i have to please and explain to guests why i cannot take their booking. THE DATES WERE BOOKED, I HAVE CHECKED THEM MANY TIMES TO MAKE SURE . it is most upsetting since i have tried from my side to be a good host , check and block dates, respond asap etc. and now this. most most upsetting and embarrasing !!

[Gordon0]

I have a three day booking this week (all emails say confirmed etc.) but the calemdar was showing open. Luckily I noticed this and called CS who fixed it. Seems to be happeniong more and more.  

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Robin4

I have to say we agree. Been hosting for over a year now and we get regular random dates opening up on our calendar. I logged a few calls early on regarding this but was told that it was a known bug that was being worked on. One year on and it still happens. It's a basic requirement that a booking site has a platform that you can actually trust and AirBnB does not. 

Luckily it is always single nights that open up early in the week when we do not take guests (and we don't do single nights) so it has never caused a problem. But at some point it will of course.

I guess there is no real competition at the moment, so there is no need to invest in fixes like this - but it is annoying at the same time how many other tweaks and changes they can make to the site without ever telling hosts that something is happening.

[Robin4]

@Gerry-And-Rashid0 Thanks a lot for that comment, if it comes from you I respect it greatly. I cannot begin to tell you the amount of help you have been to me in the two years I have been here. It is guys like you, Dave & deb, Linda, Clare and Deborah who got me where I am now on Airbnb.

My hosting is rolling along like a fine Swiss clock, has for 18 months now, and I have you to thank for that. You guys saved me from potentialy many messy situations!

I didn't always respond to you but,  I did always appreciate it.

Cheers....Rob

[Frank141]

This explains what happened to us. We were Super Hosts until someone was instant booked which we never do. When we declined we lost our status. When we tried to resolve this issue we got nowhere. I've noticed 

[Huma0]

Hi @Frank141, this also happened to me when I first listed my rooms. I definitely opted out of Instant Book, but I chose smartpricing as the starting prices looked okay. The next day, I came back to find that Instant Book had been turned on, the prices halved and the additional price for extra guests removed. Of course I was inundated with requests. Where else can you get a nice room somewhere central in London for £10 each a night?! Many of these requests were for long term stays.

Luckily, because I spotted it quickly, only one guest had Instant Booked and for only two nights. I decided to honour his booking. Quite lucky really as I wasn't aware of the penalties for cancelling then! I had to respond to the others individually but none of them booked at the very reasonable price I was offering.

I was pretty shocked that this could happen. It was not a good start to Airbnb for me!

[Andrea9]

@Robin4

Thankfully this only happened once recently with New Year's Eve. I had to decline the request.

What I also find just as unfortunate as manual days blocked opening up automatically, is when I need higher prices for certain dates but only want them to open up in my 3 month rolling availability.

A couple of times I noticed only afterwards that when these dates had opened up through the automatic 3-month availability settings that my desired price had been replaced with the normal pricing.

Again happily, in my case they had not been immediately booked, so was able to remedy the problem.

But for hosts in succulent locations for special events that is very business damaging.

[Bruce43]

@Andrea9@Robin4 Good call on the three month rolling calendar DOH now homer simpatico learns something new.  Cheers 

[MicheleandLouw0]

I have also had my fair share of Calender issues! Dates unblocking by itself and confirmed booked dates NOT being blocked on my calender. In both cases I was very fortunate not to have double bookings, but the situation could have been very different... Please Airbnb look into these problems.

[Louise47]

I'm going away in March for a long weekend. I have had it planed for months. Three times I have had to block the dates after they have been unblocked. The last time I did not catch it in time and I got a instant booking.  Which I can't cancel other wise I loss my super host. So now I'm left to leave strangers in my home while I'm out of the home for the first time ever.  Yes my insides are churning already.  I have asked them alot of questions and my daughters will call in each day to make sure everything is okay. But this should not have happened. 

[Marit-Anne0]

@Louise47

Under these circumstances you can ask airbnb to cancel an Instant Book without penalties.  

[Robin4]

@Louise47....Hi ya again Louise. Was this unblocking related to your calendar booking window? Were the dates being un-blocked a specific time ahead?

Louise I can understand how you feel being away while there are strangers in your house but, in almost all situations it is fine and no harm will come of it. My daughter lets out her entire apartment in Bondi when she is away, and Louise, she has never had a problem.

I know the insides are 'churning' but I am sure all will be fine. I am sure being the competent host that you are, you have vetted these people pretty thoroughly.

Terribly unfair that you are being 'blackmailed' into this situation by Airbnb though, and this is what I want to try and stop.

No response to my email yet, but I will keep the Community informed....

Cheers.....Rob