Instant Book - Pros & Cons?

[Rosita11]

I wonder how effective Instant Book really is. While it's supposed to increase booking, only a few of my guests have used it so far. Most guests contact me before booking. I also faced difficulties due to Instant Book a couple of days ago  - There were floods in certain parts of Sri Lanka and a local had booked my place via Instant Book even though he knew (or ought to have known) there was a possibility of floods affecting the listing. I told him the Government had issued warnings against travelling and asked him to cancel the booking. He refused and told me to cancel the booking instead (He was afraid he would not get a full refund if he cancelled the booking). I am a superhost and a cancellation would affect my superhost status. I reached out to the Airbnb community and thankfully one host advised me to contact Airbnb via Twitter and to ask them to cancel the booking. Airbnb responded very quickly and cancelled the reservation (without penalties to host or guest).

After this experience, I decided to read up on cancellation penalties and found out that Instant book hosts could cancel penalty free (without losing their superhost status) if they are "uncomfortable with a reservation" or "if a guest breaks house rules". The host has to provide an explanation to Airbnb and the guest. Being "uncomfortable with a reservation" seems rather ambigous and open to intepretation. What would this constitute exactly? If I have a feeling that a guest is going to have a party, how can I prove that before the guest arrives (if the guest doesn't admit it upfront)?

In the circumstances, it seems removing the Instant Book option would be better, in order to avoid a lot of unnecessary hassle. What do you think?   

[Cecilia355]

Hi there! I'm a new host, so I am still getting the hang of things here. I have enabled instant booking and most of my guests have made their reservations that way. But, if somebody requests a booking rather than going through IB, is it possible to see which requirement for IB they do not meet? That might be helpful for me as I vet guests. Thanks for all the helpful information!

[Clare0]

@Cecilia355 Assuming that you have set the IB requirements for Government ID and previous positive reviews, most of the Reservation Requests will come from either guests who have no reviews or have not provided the required ID.  

Also, you might get reservation requests that are counter to your House Rules.  For example, I recently received a reservation request that included a nine year old child.  My House Rules indicate that I only accept children over the age of 12.  This gave me the opportunity to vet the guest and make a decision.  Ultimately I approved the request since the booking guest had very good reviews from previous hosts.  

[Cecilia355]

Thank you so much for your help, Clare!

[Robert1666]

Guests abuse instant booking because in case of incidents caused by the guest, Airbnb always protects the guest at the expense of the host. For example, if a guest made a third-party booking (which is violation of Airbnb's policy) and the host cancels the reservation, the host will be penalized. Penalty-free cancellations in Instant booking doesn't exist. Fu rthermore, in case of an incident caused by guest, Airbnb will always refund the guest and the host will loose money. Airbnb is not consistent in implementing Airbnb's policies, of course always at the expense of the host.

The likelihood of abuse at the expense of the host is much greater with Instant booking, because Airbnb never stands behind the host. I'll recommend to hosts not to use the Instant booking because they could end up losing money as I did.

[Roberto1049]

Hi,

I am a superhost and have 35 reviews. I just turned on instant booking and raised my prices a bit.

Which out of the 4 guest requirements should I choose and why?

(I want to increase bookings and avoid bad guests.

1) Profile Photo

2) Govenment Issued ID

3) Recommendation from other hosts

4) Guest Trip Information

[Devin-and-Sarah0]

Think about it this way guys. How many hotels do you book where you have to wait for confirmation? Airbnb is trying to do the same thing in order to compete.

With IB you get to require government official I.D. and being recommended by other hosts. As far as i've seen, 95% of hosts will not recommend a guest if they trash the place or misbehave.

Source: https://airbnbuniverse.com/airbnb-instant-book

[Sarah977]

@Devin-and-Sarah0  But Airbnbs aren't hotels. Depending on the hosting situation, IB is a really bad idea for some hosts to use. Govt. ID is no assurance that a guest won't break house rules, trash the place, or arrive expecting something other than what is offered because they didn't bother to read the listing info. And I've read plenty of posts here from hosts who had a really bad guest who had verifications and 5* reviews.

[Fiona638]

hello all, i am new to all of this and so when we joined i was convinced by airbnb that if we didn’t have IB turned on we would not appear in searches. so it is on but with the need to meet requirements such as government id to be able to instant book. 

i have been in conversation with a potential guest who was about to book when all of a sudden the dates became unavailable. this was due to an unverified guest be ing able to block the dates for 12 hours while they wait for verification. i cannot understand how this is allowable when there are others wanting to book and to whom i have given pre-approval. extremely frustrating!