How do I make dates available or blocked on my calendar?

You can manage bookings and avoid cancellations by making sure your calendar is up to date, based on your availability.

How to manage your calendar

To make dates available or blocked:

1. Go to your dashboard > Calendar and select a listing
2. Scroll through the calendar (or use the Month dropdown menu) to find a date
3. Click a date to select it, or click and drag your cursor to select multiple dates
4. In the Availability section, select Available or Blocked
5. Click Save

Available dates on the calendar are white. Unavailable dates are gray when automatically blocked or have a slash if you've manually blocked them.

Why calendar dates may be blocked

Dates may be blocked on your calendar for a variety for reasons:

• Your listing settings: Advanced notice, preparation time, and your availability window play a major role in determining which dates are automatically blocked or available. (Ex: In order to allow time for enhanced cleaning, or if the gap between two reservations is less than your setting for the minimum number of nights.) Find out how to set preparation time between reservations.
• Pending reservations: Dates for pending reservation requests are blocked until you accept or decline them. If you don’t respond to a request within 24 hours, the date remains blocked indefinitely—unless you unblock it. If you’d like to receive alerts as soon as you have a pending reservation request, adjust your notifications.
• Confirmed/accepted reservations: When you accept a reservation request, the dates are automatically blocked. Parts of days may be blocked if a reservation starts in the second half of a day after a previous reservation ends.
• If you have other calendars linked or synced to your Airbnb calendar: This feature is designed to prevent different guests from double booking your listing (for example, if it’s listed on Airbnb and on another platform).
• Reservations you canceled: If a host cancels a reservation, those dates remain blocked, including ones well in the future. Learn more about penalties for canceling a reservation.
• Expired reservation requests: If a reservation request expires before you are able to respond, those dates will be automatically blocked. You can make these dates available again from your calendar.

How inquiries or pre-approvals affect availability

Dates remain available while guests inquire about booking dates unless you pre-approve an inquiry.

• If guests inquire about booking certain dates before requesting a reservation: These dates will remain available so multiple guests can send inquiries until you have a pending reservation request. If you decide to pre-approve an inquiry and Instant Book is not on, those dates will automatically be held and blocked on your calendar until the guest books or until the pre-approval expires after 24 hours—whichever comes first.
• If you pre-approve an inquiry and allow guests to book instantly: You’ll have the option to hold and block those dates until the guest books—or until the pre-approval expires after 24 hours—whichever comes first. This ensures that the guest who sent you an inquiry has a chance to book. You can change your mind at any time by retracting the pre-approval.