@Denise1233
Denise, I use IB and I find it wonderful......but my situation is far removed from yours, and I am not exposed to the potential problems that you are.
1/.....You list an entire self contained property which indicates you list remotely and are not on hand to control or influence the activities of guests.
2/.....You host in a general area that is geared up principally for holiday makers and party goes.
3/......You have multiple bedrooms and cater for what would be considered a 'larger' group of guests. By that I mean more than the average family unit!
From a hosting point of view Denise, you do list a high risk property, and as such I would not suggest you use Instant Book.
The problem with requiring certain verifications/ ID's is, that tells you nothing about the guest and what is bringing them to your property.
There are a few golden rules in hosting Denise which positive ID won't sift out problems for you.
A/.......Never let to locals! Why is it this local needs the use of your property rather than their own. You need an ironclad substantiated reason why you should accept a local booking.
B/.......Never let to hagglers! Guests are either complimentary about your property, are satisfied with what they have read and just want to stay.....or they are demanding and have a series questions or requirements that they need you to give in to. In many instances they book first and then haggle, the rationale being you don't want to lose the booking and will give in to them!
C/......Never let to third party bookings! Never let to the secretary that wants to book a night away for the boss......The person you wants book for his mate....the mother who wants to book as a present for her son/daughters graduation.
All these scenarios come with positive ID and will be allowed to instant book but, they are each almost guaranteed to be poor guests for one reason or another.
For me, I host in a studio cottage on the property so I cut out the party bookings and I have sufficient experience to sift out the hagglers and 3rd party bookings from the guests initial message.
Denise try an get a bit of activity happening on your listing description, change a photo or two, put the price up a dollar one day then a few days later put it down again, get a friend or two to send an enquiry....it doesn't commit anyone to anything but these things trigger the algorithm that governs search placement, change a house rule or add an amenity. The more activity on your site the higher your listing will rank in search placement.
For me IB is great but Denise, if I were you I wouldn't use it. All the best!
Cheers.........Rob
