I am SOOOO done with Instant Booking

[Kia272]

Believe it or not, this was the last straw:

"Hello! My husband and I are coming for a wedding. We are very much looking forward to staying close to the venue."

I don't ask for much, but I do ask that prospective guests review my property details carefully and confirm that they have done so in the (required) note when they book. Note that she couldn't even use my name, and says nothing about the property. Only that she's looking forward to the stay because it's close to the venue (a local resort and spa). 

I wrote her back asking her to confirm review of the property details. She also added someone to the reservation (not her husband) so I asked her about that too. I did this within minutes of her making the reservation. After more than 24 hours with no response, I asked AirBnB to cancel, which they did, although I had to be very insistent. 

While this isn't a huge transgression in the larger scheme of things, it was the last straw for me. My property description is very thorough, and I want prospective guests to be aware of both the good and the "bad" things that *could* happen during their stay. Mostly it's about the potential for noise. Writing them back after they've omitted the confirmation in their first contact gives them a second chance to get it right. I had another guest do this last week, and after reviewing my property details carefully she canceled because she hadn't paid enough attention to realize that I don't have air conditioning. Better to ward off the problems before they come to stay. 

This has happened more and more lately, and I'm just fed up, so after having had instant book on since I started on AirBnB, I actually turned it off while on the phone with support. Let's see what happens. 

I'm at the point where I'd rather have my place empty than deal with idiots (sorry- venting)

For those of you who don't use instant book, I'd love some reassurance that this does work. 

Happy (??) hosting, 

Kia

[Laura2592]

@Kia272 I am really on the fence about IB. 

I turned it off for a bit when I was hosting and found it MORE frustrating to communicate with guests who still could not be bothered to read the entirety of a 3 line message I had sent. The time it took for guest responses was my biggest issue-- I was missing out on other reservations. I did get some very huffy guests who wanted to know why I had refused them/thought they had booked because I sent them a message and were very angry to realize they had to find a different place. I didn't notice that I was getting better quality guests either. 

I absolutely agree that home shares need to vet very carefully and not all listings are a fit for IB. I had the best success with all restrictions/conditions set on IB and an Easter egg in my house rules. About half of my guests put it in the welcome message as instructed. If they didn't, I sent a nice note asking them to send it by a specific time or their reservation "would not be finalized." I canceled stays for those who appeared not to be a good fit and likely dodged many bullets. I also had quite a few not so awesome guests-- many just like you describe who just picked my place and basically did no research or even looked at all the pics. Wedding bookings were ALWAYS hit or miss due to the stress of the event and lack of attention to house rules (no you can't have 12 people over to get ready.) I also started refusing pet friendly stays for wedding guests as it was guaranteed the dog or cat would be in my house unattended for long periods of time and a wedding stay was the only occasion on which I ever had damage. 

Best of luck-- let us know how it goes. 

[Kia272]

@Laura2592  I was feeling a little bit encouraged until I read your post, lol. Honestly, I think in customer service/hospitality, there are always going to be problem people as well as lovely people. It's a matter of finding the good ones and avoiding the bad ones, and we all know that that's not easy at all, no matter what we do. 

I'm a bit discouraged about your comment that waiting on response times became an issue, but I'll have to see how that plays out. Since I'm just a bit fed up with the whole process, I'll have to see how it works for me and adjust accordingly. 

What I don't know is if this is somehow an advantage for me as far as declining reservations? I have never been sure how that works against me, with requests or inquiries, and the ABB "help" on the subject has still left me wondering, so I'm just not going to stress about it. 

Believe me, I'm feeling the pinch right now like a lot of people, with gas and commodities prices as high as they are, but I'm at a point in life where my mental health and quality of life are very important, and I want to make this process work for me, rather than just for AirBnB. 

I am listed on VRBO and have picked up some traffic there, and that's in request-only status as I didn't want to juggle two calendars with IB on. 

The bottom line is that I DO need the income, but not at a high cost to my wellbeing. Let the ABB adventure continue.....until it doesn't work. Then I'm gone. 

Cheers, Kia

[Laura2592]

@Kia272 I doubt it will affect your bookings, but I have no real clue. Everyone keeps saying they are down after this new "summer rollout" category debacle so it may be hard to suss out which factor drives any change. ABB, like other platforms, wants you to use certain products they create to drive traffic. IB seems to be the one they are most insistent upon. I didn't notice a drop in my bookings when I turned it off. I didn't accept as many, which is a metric that superhosts are measured against.

My biggest issue was that I would send over a few questions and have to wait  24, 48hours or longer for someone to get back to me. With IB, I had 24 hours for a penalty free cancelation, so if I got no response or things seemed off, that was the longest I had to wait to make a decision. I REALLY don't like a lot of back and forth on the front end. I want my guests to actually read, be pleasant and have few questions because they have read. But I understand that everyone's style is different. 

Diversifying your listing is a fabulous idea. If we decide to do STR on the new property I will not rely on ABB solely. 

[Hal3292]

I concur with the hosts who've turned IB off and found no reduction in bookings. That's been my experience, too. As a new host a couple of years ago, I gave in to the pressure of constant ABB prompts to turn on and keep on IB. I've found that my peace of mind is better when I can do a little checking on a guest before accepting a reservation. I don't always ask the prospective guest a question, but sometimes a question seems in order to make sure we're a good fit for them. I was apprehensive about turning IB off. But like some of the other hosts who've replied here, I've never looked back.  No more IB for me.