Instant Book

[Phil17]

How do I turn OFF instant booking?  cannot find it anywhere.

[Ephraim0]

Unfortunately airbnb has not provided the ability for some new hosts to turn off instant book. 

[Victoria57]

Hi @Phil17, as @Ephraim0 said, it is a trial that AirBnB are running where it is not possible to turn off Instant Booking. For some reason AirBnB seem to think that hosts shouldn't have any interaction with potential guests before they book and are trying to force instant booking on everyone. They are trialling this with new hosts. It's a crap idea and a crap way to trial it and is getting many experienced hosts really angry.

[Melanie58 · Accepted solution]

Phil, I am wondering if you have the ability to change your instant book settings to have the results you desire.  When you go to your "Booking" tab under your listing (through the Calendar and More option), do you have the option to select:

"No one. Guests who meet Airbnb’s requirements must wait for your response."

If so, that would be like turning off instant book - guests who otherwise meet Airbnb requirements would have to wait for you to respond "pre-approve" or "decline".

If you do not have that option (I am not sure what people are talking about turning off/on instant book), then the next best option would be to choose:

Guests who meet Airbnb’s requirements, and also have:

Provided a government-issued ID

Recommendation from other hosts

With this option, and both checkboxes checked, the only people who could instant book are those who submit a photo id and also have recommendations from previous hosts.  That would be a pretty small group, so most of your bookings would proceed like non-instant bookings.

With instant booking, you have the ability to decline up to three reservations a year that make you uncomfortable without penalty, so if one of those guests had awful reviews or something, you could use one of your three free cancels.

Hope this is helpful information.