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?   

[Marjonneke0]

I agree with you. Not happy AirBnB is not protecting their team, their hosts better.

[Isabel203]

I have not yet had any reason to regret using IB. It saves me a lot of time, is convenient when guests are trying to book from a different time zone, and helps to minimize the unintentional impact of my own biases on potential guests (yeah, we all like to think we don't have them and, guess what? we ALL do!).

I know some hosts feel that they somehow have more control over the quality of guests they get when they "vet" them ahead of time, but this is most likely an illusion. Or worse, a confirmation that our biases ARE playing a role in who we accept! Even trained expereinced police officers in the context of formal interviews can't tell the difference between someone who is lying and someone who is telling the truth - how can anyone judge someone's character based on a couple emails?!

I require all IB guests to have verified gov't ID and I do not accept anyone who has had a negative review.  I don't accept 1-day stays or same-day reservations. I don't accept long-term stays. I have asked AirBnB to cancel reservations when I know the person booking has broken the rules (i.e., third party bookings). So far, there is only 1 of 44 guests that I would not have back (and he was just SUPER messy, not nasty).

[Clara116]

@Isabel203 thanks to you and the others voicing on IB -  I began hosting 5 mos ago. this is really helpful as I had major trauma a yr ago and the fear thing has me thinking I can vet folks -.and kept me from IB - I have been very busy and am grateful but I think with IB it will be even better... I don't have people in my home - we have a cottage behind the house - seperated and completely private. Thanks this really does help me move to IB plus I am Superhost for the 2nd time and I wanna see the guest stars!! Happy Hosting All, Clara B.

[Ange2]

@Rosita11   So far I do not like IB in the least.  My experience has been that the few Instant Book guests I do have do not read the description and do not respond to messages, they expect a hotel like experience with concierge service even though I write the usual blah! blah! this is not a hotel, Airbnb unique experience etc. 

It may be easier for guests but it's definitley not easier for me. So far having IB has been far more work, frustration, bad guests and damage –  even guests with stellar reviews - who, interestingly, offered me 5 stars when confronted with the damage they caused!  Have they done this before and the host has given them 5 stars in exchange for 5 stars?  So much for the good review parameter on IB.

I only signed up because I noticed my listing had all but disappeared because Airbnb give preference to IB. I have over a thousand dollars in damages from IB guests in less than a few months, so I am weighing up the risk factor.  No point in getting more bookings if my losses are far higher than their payment and Airbnb refuse to cover their damages in full, plus the extra time it takes to deal with simple things like arrival time with no response until they are on the doorstep pressing the buzzer and expecting me to play concierge and call their friend who has not turned up,  because they do not have an international calling plan and didn't bother to coordinate beforehand.

So far it has left a bad taste.

[Gordon0]

I was originally 'anti' IB but now that I have been using it for over a year, I wouldn't go back. The type of guests I get are no different to the non-IB ones. Bad guests come via both routes, although I've been very lucky.

[Ange2]

@Gordon0   I hope you are right. I have not been doing it for that long and possibly have just had a slew of bad guests whereas before IB I had vast majority great guests. Maybe after one year I will see that the good outweighs the bad and the payments are more than the losses.

[Candace52]

No it won't. In the past I read EVERY review before I approved a booking. I'm going to quit AIRBNB if I can't access reviews.

[Tibi3]

Hello 

how do you feel about this instance :

IB  for 2 days  in  3 -4 or 5 months from now.  This would block the opportunity  of longer bookings ! What if the guests change their mind and after some time they cancel ?  Opportunities for  longer bookings would have been lost forever since you won.t appear any more in searches ..for ..let's say 10 days stay ..as one or 2 of the dates are blocked  !

Is it ok to cancel an IB  for 2 day - reason being you are waiting for better opportunites ? 

It would be great to be able to limit  IB only to the next 30 days  not for 12 months 

[Heather133]

Hi @Tibi3, You can set a minimum night stay, with lots of flexibility and still us IB. For example, during very peak times (usually holidays, as I live in a ski town), I specify a minimum night stay and then I leave it at a two night minimum when things are less busy. Many of our guests book rather last minute by IB. It's worked out beautifully for us. We've had a few guests who clearly haven't read anything about our requirements, but those are far outweighed by the great guests. I do require guests with children to send a request so that I can make sure they understand that we're not baby-proof before we accept their reservation.

You could establish a 7 (or whatever) night minimum for certain time periods without having to turn off Instant Book. I hope that helps.

[Candace52]

I just opened up my account for the season (it's a summer cottage) and I recieved my 1st request. When I replied to the persons question the website said "Sign up for instant booking to see her reviews." 

If I can not see reviews of people before I approve them I WILL QUIT AIRBNB!

I had 2 VERY bad experiences last year and wrote 2 reviews so NO ONE WOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH WHAT I WENT THROUGH.

I have really enjoyed being a part of AIRBNB but this is NOT the right way to progress.

[Matthew285]

@Candace52 you can read her written reviews without having Instant Booking on.

You always could, and that has never changed.

The only thing about the reviews you gain if you have Instant Booking on is that you can additionally see the numeric star ratings the hosts have assigned to the guest. This was never available before, and is strictly an extra capability they added recently.

But everyone can read the written reviews, and all hosts can read those 2 reviews that you wrote, regardless of whether they have Instant Booking on or off.

[Candace52]

I can not access the past reviews of either of the 2 reservations I just approved yesterday.

[Steve143]

Hello @Candace52,

I'm not sure what you've tried so far but, on a laptop, reviews of a guest should be visible when you click on the guest's profile photo associated with their messages. On the Android app tap on a message from the guest, then on "Details" and then on the name or photo. The iOs app should have an equivqlent process.

If there are no reviews there then it indicates that eihter the guest has not yet completed an Airbnb stay or that any previous hosts didn't leave a review.

Steve.

[Matthew285]

@Candace52 if you cannot see any reviews, then it is very likely the guest has no reviews to read yet.

There is no setting or preference or status that stops you from reading a guest's reviews.

You can read the reviews of any random person here on this discussion board; why would Airbnb stop you from reading the reviews of your upcoming guests?

[Candace52]

We'll see.....