Is Instant Book right for you?

[Airbnb]

Instant Book basics

Instant Book is a powerful tool that allows guests to instantly book your home for available dates—alleviating the need for hosts to review and accept each booking request individually. Many hosts report that they earn more money by making the booking process easier for guests, and that they appreciate the convenience this provides. Listings with Instant Book also tend to show up higher in Airbnb search results. “The Instant Book feature has worked very well for us,” says host Antonio of Goa, India. “I keep the calendar updated and many guests book without my intervention.”

Keeping your calendar up-to-date is key to using Instant Book successfully. If you’re not able to do this, you could be surprised by unexpected bookings or end up canceling a reservation due to a scheduling error—an Airbnb no-no that could result in a cancellation fee. To ensure that your Airbnb calendar is always current, it’s a good idea to sync it with whatever calendar you primarily use (iCal, Google, etc). Here’s a tutorial on how to do that.

Tools for extra peace of mind

Some hosts may initially feel hesitant to use Instant Book because they worry that they won’t have much information about potential guests before booking. You can set your preferences to offer Instant Book only to guests who have received positive reviews from other hosts, and/or guests who have government-issued IDs. You can also create a custom greeting and include important questions (for instance, “Who else will be staying with you? What’s the purpose of your trip? Can you confirm you’ve read the House Rules?) that Instant Book guests will see during their booking process. After the booking is confirmed, you can follow up to ask additional questions if needed. “I used to require reservation requests,” says host Kristine from San Francisco, “but once I realized that what I was looking for in guests (positive ratings) could be handled automatically by Airbnb, it actually made more sense for me to use Instant Book to get the benefits of more views and bookings, while maintaining the same level of guest quality I enjoyed by reviewing requests myself.”

Why you might still get booking requests

Even with Instant Book turned on, there are cases where you might receive booking requests from guests. This could happen if you haven’t updated your calendar in a while, or if you’ve recently needed to cancel a reservation. Guests who don’t meet your criteria to book instantly might also send reservation requests. For any requests that do come through, you’ll need to respond by accepting or declining the reservation, or messaging your prospective guests within 24 hours.

Why some hosts don’t use Instant Book

Despite the many benefits of Instant Book, some hosts find that reservation requests work better for them. Annie, a host in Sonoma, California, uses reservation requests because she only offers long-term stays of 30 days or more, to comply with hosting regulations in her area. “I would love to use Instant Book, but there are a lot more logistics to figure out when you’re hosting someone for that long,” she says. “It’s more like having a tenant.”

Nichola, a host in Guelph, Canada, has an environmental sensitivity that requires her to keep her space scent free, so she uses reservation requests to ensure that guests are willing to agree to her very specific house rules. “I get migraines from scented products so I need to make sure my guests are folks who understand scent allergies,” she says.

Another reason to choose booking requests rather than Instant Book might be that your space has specific qualities that you need to make sure guests understand before their stay. Examples might include a private room in a home that includes pets or children, or an extremely rustic space that might be challenging for certain guests. Booking requests can be a good choice for assuring that guests are aware of all the unique aspects of your home before they visit.

Reliability is key for using Instant Book

Whatever decision you make, remember that Airbnb has strict policies around hosts canceling reservations, because reliability is a critical part of being a great host. That said, if you allow guests to instantly book and are uncomfortable with a reservation once it’s made (for instance, because your prospective guests are asking if they can break your house rules), you can cancel a booking without penalty using the online cancellation tool up to three times per calendar year. Just know that canceling a reservation signals that Instant Book may not be a good fit for you right now, so if you do this, Airbnb may send booking requests instead for your next few reservations.

Want to update your settings to turn Instant Book on or off? Here’s how to do it.

[Cathy109]

I lost my Superhost for a year when a 2 night stay gave me 4 stars because the kitchen was small (exactly as described in my listing and in shown in my photos). Because I had lots of long stays I didn’t have a lot of reviews that year and it put my average below the SH status. So 3 stars would usually kill your SH status.

[Jisan0]

Hello every one !

[Neil-and-Ellen0]

Welcome, Jisan!

[Carmen978]

WOW! All these feedbacks being posted from hosts re instant book must surely be telling Airbnb that instant book is not exactly a success story for hosts. We have been trying to work out if we should do instant book for our properties, but after reading 20 odd separate host feedbacks and only discovering 2 positive ones, we certainly won't be jumping into it any time soon! If we only had two positive feedbacks out of 20 for our host ratings, then Airbnb would consider us to be complete failures and we would be at the bottom of the search page would we not? Might be time for Airbnb to have a good hard look at the ratings from hosts regarding instant book, and go back to the drawing board.

 Considering that we are not residing at our rental properties and as such need to screen very carefully who stays, it doesn't sound like it would work too well for us. We have also been continuously encouraged/hounded by Airbnb to use instant book, and told that we can just be clear about house rules in our description to stop those we don't want to stay.  But as many of you have said, very few people actually bother reading the information, and can we really blame them? After all who ever reads the fine print these days?

 Furthermore, numerous hosts have indicated that even when you set your minimum requirements for an instant book, like gov ID or positive feedback, that they can still book even if they don't meet these requirements! What sort of a system is that?

The idea of instant book actually sounds good to me but only if your minimum requirements are genuinely met and cannot be bypassed.

The problem we have as hosts is that Airbnb’s primary aim is to increase bookings through their website which is great, but they have much less regard for the quality of tenant that we as hosts receive. I don’t blame Airbnb for that because I consider it my job to make sure my tenants are good quality, and I have certainly learnt from some bad mistakes in the past. However, it seems to me this instant book system is taking away my best judgement as a host to choose a good tenant, and forces me to accept whatever the cat drags in.

[William284]

To give you an idea about how many prospective guests read the listings and the house rules:  I have a significant discount posted in my house rules -- along with directions for requesting this discount.  Far fewer than half of my guests request the discount.  I embedded this discount into the rules -- into my listing -- just to see how many guests actually read the listing and rules.  I haven't counted lately, but I'm certain that no more than a quarter or a third of my guests request the discount.  Guests simply do not read the listing or the house rules.  For that reason I will NEVER do instant book.  If I am going to take that route (an "instant book" type of reservation), then I may as well move to a different, higher-volume booking platform.  I am sorry that Airbnb has abandoned their original concept.  It was once so personal and communitarian in nature.  Their corporate success has turned them into a corporate monstrosity.  I guess it was bound to happen.  But can't they even read these notes from dedicated and loyal hosts?  When they fully lose their sense of community, the Airbnb brand will no longer have any meaning.  Host loyalty will dissipate.  Airbnb will become just another booking service . . . eating the dust of larger rivals in the accommodation industry.

[Derek192]

Great idea William haha. I particularly hate the guests that don’t read the description of the house & then complain about things clearly written in the description. Has usually been the younger “entitled” generation. 

[Lauren338]

"even when you set your minimum requirements for an instant book, like gov ID or positive feedback, that they can still book even if they don't meet these requirements! What sort of a system is that?"

Also, they never actually take a damage deposit if you have that in your listing.  What is the point of that?

Instant book is good for one of my properties but I don't like being penalized with having my listing buried and not being able to view profiles or guest reviews UNLESS you have turned on IB.

Oh, and wouldn't it be a great if we could also see how many times the guest has cancelled??

[Ange2]

@Airbnb 

"Just know that canceling a reservation signals that Instant Book may not be a good fit for you right now,"

Really!    In my experience it signals that the guest is not a good fit,  has not read the description, the amenities, the limitations and rules or it's a third party booking. That, and when Airbnb allows people with no verifications, not even a phone number,  to Instant Book despite me having checked the parameters: must have ID and reviews.

I suggest you adopt some of the features hosts have asked for to ensure that guests are responsible and  knowledgeable before they book. Easy enough functions to add to a guest's booking experience. Why is this always on the host who is punished every which way for a guests ignorance,  disrespect and irresponsibility.

[Jennifer1421]

---

@Ange2 wrote:

@Airbnb 

"Just know that canceling a reservation signals that Instant Book may not be a good fit for you right now,"

Really!    In my experience it signals that the guest is not a good fit, 

Exactly, @Ange2 !!

[Joan45]

I do not appreciate an instant booking with only 30 mins notice only to have it cancelled after an hour of receiving and accepting the booking

[Ange2]

@Joan45    In case you do not know there is an area, under the availability tab where you can decide how much notice you need to prevent guests, for example: from booking and arriving the same day. 

Note: A day in advance does not mean 24hours,  it means up to midnight of the same day.

Another thing to note is that some hosts have found that for same day bookings Airbnb has not (despite verifications showing up) completed verifications,  nor has it verified or collected the guest's payment— the guest shows up, stays a night or a few, and the host doesn't get paid because the credit card was unable to be processed or even fraudulent.  See Airbnb policy about not paying hosts because Airbnb has been unable to collect.

[Vivienne1]

When Airbnb first started it was about personal contact and maybe a conversation with a future guest. I prefer to keep it that way and so far no regrets. I realise that times moves on and things change but I’m not a hotel or Booking.com and there’s nothing like a personal touch. 

[Ingrid267]

Hosts and their homes carry the major risk and the smaller host owning their home is being forgotten. Never thought that hotels and official b and bs would be in Air bnb platform.  For very little money hosts have allowed the organisation to expand to facilitate a Public Listing on the Stock Exchange.

I’d say take a bow and congratulations to the little house owner who is still making Airnb what it is,  giving guests their attention not going to get that from invisible hosts not bothering to meet and greet their guests!

[William284]

If Airbnb wants to abandon the personal approach and become Booking dot com, then my recommendation is that everyone wake up and smell the roses -- Booking dot com does a much greater volume than Airbnb.  If Airbnb abandons their original concept to become the "Instant Book" accommodation site -- and pressures us into this new model of business -- then we should examine all similar options (i.e. Booking dot com).  One platform for instant booking is pretty much the same as the next -- however, Booking dot come tells guests that they'll have to show their government ID upon check-in!

[Martin858]

I'm privileged to have gone through two years as a host with two fully booked Spring to Autumn periods.

We've had a couple of 'different' guests, albeit with no negatives but I am pleased to say 99% go guests have been respectful of my place totally and would re-host them any time.

I am happy with the instant booking system as it is streamlined and efficient. I have no sensitivities about environment, culture etc and and happy to host anyone irrespective of personal attributes or customs, provided the y respect my place. as it stands I have hosted w hole variety go guests who  have just loved the area and the base di proved them.

We do get requests, some for slight variations such as bringing a baby or toddler, which is acceptable as the place is only for two adults. Others seek further clarification but most requested send up as confirmed bookings. I will also say that AIRBNB have designed such a brilliant system and website so that whatever i get through the mail, it always shows me through the process. I am thrilled with the AIRBNB support and processes.

Martin