Agree - it's really frustrating when your preferred options are unavailable and you're just trying to see which of the remaining options are actually free for your dates. But you have to pick one and commit for a longish period, then repeat.
Airbnb should really build a quick-response app for hosts with a fat button for instantly denying a booking. Make it so that it's trivial to see a request and confirm/deny. Give the ability for renters to set a timeout on their requests too, or queue them up.
One of the most recent times I tried Airbnb in Venice, CA, I gave up and found something on VRBO that was cheaper and quickly available.
What I want is the ability to reserve multiple options at once, the first one who says yes is booked and the rest automatically get cancelled. Most cities have quite a number of good options so I'm pretty indifferent to the one I get, what I'm worried about is spending a day each time to hear no and slowly running out of options.
Airbnb should really build a quick-response app for hosts with a fat button for instantly denying a booking. Make it so that it's trivial to see a request and confirm/deny. Give the ability for renters to set a timeout on their requests too, or queue them up.
One of the most recent times I tried Airbnb in Venice, CA, I gave up and found something on VRBO that was cheaper and quickly available.