Are you using Instant Book?

[Quincy]

 

Hello everyone,

For many of you, hosting is your business. You put a lot of effort and time into creating a great and welcoming experience, and you also rely on the income you generate. 

Of course, there might be reasons for you to use Instant Book or not to make use of it.

Having said the above, do you make use of the Instant Book feature? 

I look forward to reading your replies. 

Quincy

[Quincy]

I'm glad to hear everything's working perfect for you @J-Renato0! 👏

Do guests tend to ask you many questions though?

[J-Renato0]

Hi @Quincy 

Some guests ask some questions. I am always ready to answer questions.
However it is fine when the guest book the listing using I.B. without asking any question.

The ones who use I.B. usually read the entire listing before taking a decision. Of course, every rule has exception, but I barely have problem with I.B.

[Elaine701]

We've always used IB, but with all filters turned on. So far it's worked very well. But things have shifted a bit in the past couple of years. 

Nowadays, very few inquiries come from guests with any profile or history or reviews or even a photo, so most don't qualify for IB, which puts us back into the vetting gauntlet.

I'm currently scaring away as many as 3 out of 10. They're usually groups of 20-somethings, often all male. And that's a very high risk group, so we demand a security deposit from that demographic.

And while that scares away most of them in that demographic, the ones that agree have so far kept the place in tip top shape (they want their deposit back, so they remain conscientious during their stay). 

Those that do qualify for IB seem to be consistently great guests. So that's still working. 

The good news is that if there's one thing Airbnb is good at, it's attracting bookings (even if most aren't ideal guest profiles or have other "issues"). It's a seller's market, so we can afford to be (necessarily) picky. 

Inquiries on other platforms seem to be picking up a little too. They tend to be a bit less work, because other platforms have more filters for things like ages and profiles of guests, so they tend to weed out the questionable ones up front.. Presumably by not presenting your listing in the first place if the guest doesn't pass your filters.

Still, the number of inquiries from other platforms pale in comparison to Airbnb. You just have to be more vigilant on Airbnb. Not only vetting the guests, but trying to avoid the many inexplicable Airbnb "interventions" that can lead to penalties and loss of income, simply by employing sensible measures to protect yourself from the declining quality of guest that seems to dominate Airbnb nowadays. 

[Max144]

@Quincy  I like to get a feel for the guests being a good fit, recently a father and son who were moving from New Zealand asked to stay for a month, they asked for a 2 bed in one room and i explained one room queen and another room king and he replied no problem as they would top and tail in one bed, he also said had tried to book backbackers accommodation to no avail for $200 a week and expected something similar so was easy to decline.

Have no pets policy and have numerous requests for dogs, same as no smoking policy and requests for smoking etc., i dont mind answering all questions as one can read between the lines plus clear up any misconceptions so everyone is on the same page.

Another bonus is when a couple asks to book i sometimes get both names which is great to put on welcome blackboard.

[Helen427]

oh @Max144 from New Zealand via a country originally quite different from New Zealand????

Love Instant Book and so do my Guests, when it works.

I've just had a Guest who IB and it popped up as been 'awaiting verification' @Quincy 
They are a well seasoned ABB elderly Guest with minimal internet access in their part of NZ who stayed in many an ABB without this hiccough arise in the past.

They lead a very active life and would use ABB more often BUT for such Glitches.

They ended up having to do a 'Request to Book" with me and it came through promptly.

Perhaps there's an IT glitch in the system that needs fixing???

Text alerts are up the creek at times for ABB which makes it a little frustrating to use.

It used to work like Magic!!

@Lorna179@Emilia42 @Michelle53 @Max144 @Quincy 

[Lorna170]

The property that I have listed on AirBnB (versus other advertising platforms) lends itself to instant book.  I have all filters applied, including the 7 day prior to.  This allows time to communicate with the guest and ensure that they are a good fit for the property.  It also means that there is no dickering about the price or the fees.  I have other properties that I would never use instant book for -- especially my larger properties that could be abused by groups that don't disclose their true guest numbers.

[Kia272]

@Quincy  I use instant book. I have requirements in place so it's not just a free-for-all. Among other requirements I've set, I require "host recommendation" as a pre-requisite for instant booking. I'm a bit shocked that AirBnB seems to think that 1 recommendation is sufficient. I'd rather have a setting where I could require a minimum of 2 or 3. "1" is not an established history, by any means. Do you agree?

Other than that, I ask in my listing that guests write an introductory note (also an IB requirement), and include confirmation that they have reviewed the property details and rules. If they see that, it's an indication that they've read most of the listing and paid attention. Between the note and the confirmation, I can get a pretty good sense of who's coming.

I've never ever canceled a booking, and have had only one guest from hell, and one other disturbing situation. However, I'd definitely cancel if my spidey sense was going off. I often say there's value in a vacant day or days, as opposed to the cost of a really bad guest. That cost will hang around for a long, long time. 

[Debra300]

@Quincy,

We've used instant booking from the beginning, and haven't had any issues with it.  The booking settings are pretty stringent, and allow us at least a couple of days to communicate with a guest before they arrive.  Potential guests that don't meet the prerequisites have to submit a booking request.