instant book and booking confirmation option

[Walter813]

Hi all,

I ticked instant book option under booking settings as recommended. My question is, does the Availability setting below overwrite  the setting under Availability (see screenshot)?Or in other words,  If they want to book under 1 day (24h) do I still get a confirmation request? 

[Joan2709]

@Walter813 

Keep in mind that 1 Day is not actually 24hrs on Airbnb. It is my understanding a guest could still instant book today at 11:59PM and arrive the next day at your check-in time. If the guest books at 12:00am or later, you should get a request to book instead of the guest instant booking with the slider ON. To truly ensure 24hrs, you would have to set this section at 2days advance notice and turn the slider on to prevent a guest from instant booking at 11:59pm and arrive the next day at your check-in time.

Other Hosts can chime in here, as we don't use Instant Book.  

[Walter813]

I was told by the Help Centre that 1 day = 24h 😐 
How can we double check this?

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

@Walter813 

We don't use Instant Book, but others have posted here it's NOT 24hrs in Advance Notice. Let me tag them to confirm. Just FYI, much of what Airbnb CS tells you is not correct:

@Joelle43  & @Shelley159 

Here are some other threads on this:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Advice-on-your-space/Advance-Notice/m-p/1861842

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Support-with-your-bookings/Advance-notice-and-Instant-Booking/m-...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Allow-requests-with-less-than-days-notice/m-p/204219...

Here is what another Host stated:

"1 day advance notice only means guests cannot book on the day they arrive. As such an 23.59 booking on Monday will allow guests to check in on Tuesday."

.... So guests will be able to book at 11:55pm on the 20th for a reservation on the 21st. One second into the 21st and they will not be able to book for that day. To be safe you should change your settings to "at least 2 days advance notice."

[Joelle43]

Hello @Joan2709 @Walter813 

Great advice from @Trude0 - am not on IB for all the reasons set out.

Agree with Joan, that it is not unusual to receive conflicting even wrong information from someone within CS.

I too have ticked the so called "24 hours notice" period for someone to request to book which I found out is not the case.  It's until 11.59pm  of the day before.  Under the calendar, the guest receives a warning to say that they only have XX hours until the host no longer allows bookings.  You can check this out by going onto your listing in private mode.  So it really is a next day booking and like Joan says if you really want a 24 hour warning, you need to tick the 48 hour notice period.

[Walter813]

ok, I'll put my setting on "2 days now"

[Trude0]

Hi @Walter81 ,

please know that even if Airbnb recommends ticking Instant Book, many hosts definitely do not recommend it…

Yes, ticking Instant Book may give you a higher rank in searches, therefore leading to some quick bookings. Beneficial, short term.

But as a new host, it is important that your first reviews all be 5-star with glowing comments. If you have bad/less than great reviews early, it will affect your chances of bookings, long term.

Making all guests request to book gives you 24 hours to consider whether the guest feels like a good fit for you/your listing. And vice versa. Communicate and observe the tone, read the reviews that the guest has received, and also the reviews the guest has written for other hosts. 

You should not decline too many requests, but a few is fine.

But if you receive an instant booking (= a confirmed booking), and you really don’t feel comfortable hosting the guest (or you accidentally get booked for dates you had blocked - this happens…), and you cancel the booking, you will be fined by Airbnb. It could get quite expensive.

Maybe skip Instant Book until you have a bit of experience, and then consider it again later? New listings typically rank higher in searches anyway, for a while. 

Good luck!