Which do you prefer: Instabook or Request?

[Debra48]

As a host, I have problems with both. With Instabook, we have the option to set parameters whereby the guest must be reviewed and cannot have negative reviews. With Requests, no such options exist.

With Instabook, you are allowed to decline if the guest makes you feel "uncomfortable," up to three times without penalty. With requests, you are allowed to deny three times before being penalized.

With Instabook, your calendar is not blocked if you reject the booking. With Requests, your calendar is automatically blocked for 24 hours unless the guest withdraws the request. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, I shut down Instabook. But lately I am reconsidering because I find the Request system to be quite burdensome, particularly since I get numerous requests from people who either have not read my house rules or are unreviewed. In both cases, I have to deny the request and am penalized or implore the guest to withdraw the request. 

I have suggested to Airbnb that at the very least, establish the same parameters for the request system as Instabook, and if the prospective guest fails to meet said parameters, then automatically reroute the prospective guest to an Inquiry.

I'm curious to know which system (Instabook or Request) hosts prefer, and why. Before I switch back to Instabook, I'm interested in host feedback. Thank you so much for taking a bit of time to share your personal host experiences. Others no doubt will find your input valuable, as well. 

[Brian2036]

@Debra48 

Honestly, I don’t like either of them.

 I would prefer inquiries that I can examine and either make an offer or say, “Thanks but no thanks” and keep Airbnb and their unreliable CS entirely out of it.

 I try to set a tone that makes it clear that I can and will refuse any bookings that don’t appeal to me and that it is a privilege to be invited to stay here, not a right.

 I can do this because I don’t get many inquiries so I don’t have any problem with analyzing each one.

We also don’t do one-night stands or last-minute impulse bookings.

Maybe that puts some people off but we have had ten excellent and grateful guests in a row so I’m not worried about anyone who chose to go elsewhere.

[Debra48]

I don't like either one myself. I completely agree with you!!! I wish I received more inquiries like you do, but these days requests seem to be the norm. I've considered on my listing asking guests to send me inquiries rather than requests to ensure a faster response rate, or maybe a discount -- some kind of incentive to get them to send inquiries rather than requests. I may add a note asking unreviewed guests to send inquiries rather than requests--otherwise their request will be denied automatically. We need to figure workarounds because this Airbnb system implies guests have a right to stay simply. because they request. They don't. It is absolutely a privilege. Curious about what other hosts are doing.

Thanks for your response! 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Debra48  Requests are more often just because it's a big red button.... and inquiries are hidden further down behind the "contact host" textual link. Many inexperienced guests don't even know it exists. Of course, Airbnb purposely set it like this

I use an instant book but don't like it and request neither. I also prefer inquiries

[Ann72]

@Debra48  While I vastly prefer InstantBook, I have gotten more requests than usual in the last year and you are right, they come with the assumption that they are staying.  The last one simply said, "We are celebrating our anniversary...[and] we plan to arrive on Friday afternoon.  Will confirm date and time later."  Really?

I just love guests who knows what they want and make the booking without a lot of palaver.  That's why I'll keep using InstantBook with all the requirements checked.  Any guest who can't get through that list gets the signal that guesting is as much a responsibility as hosting.

[Sarah977]

@Debra48  As a home share host, I have never used Instant Book. I would not feel comfortable sharing my home and kitchen with guests who I haven't had an opportunity to communicate with first. I've had guests with no reviews, who were all great. 

The thing is, I trust myself to vet guests far more than I trust the Instant Book settings to vet guests who will be a good fit for me and my listing. Verified ID? All they have to do is provide a valid driver's license. That isn't any indication they'll be a good guest. Good reviews? Lots of hosts don't leave honest reviews and ratings are super subjective. What might be a 5* guest to you might be a 3* guest to me, or vice versa. And plenty of guests who were not objectionable in an entire home listing, who wouldn't be suited to a home share.

The bottom line is that I want to maintain control over who I allow to stay with me, not some Airbnb algorithms. I have  never had to decline a request, nor had a "bad" guest. That doesn't mean I haven't had inappropriate inquiries or requests, but I answer in such a way that the guest withdraws it, or we get things straight through communication and I accept. 

For instance, I had a request from a woman who said she realized I only listed for solo guests, but could she possibly have a friend stay with her, they could bring an air mattress and pay a bit more. I told her there wasn't space for that, which is why I only host one guest at a time and that she should withdraw the request and look for a listing which is set up for 2. She replied immediately, saying, no no, she still wanted to book and would tell the friend to look for another place for herself. 

She turned out to be a charming guest, Japanese, who brought food and made a Japanese meal for both of us her first night here, and we still keep in touch. 

I'm not at all inclined to give control over who stays in my home to Airbnb. I know who will be a good fit, and that can't be determined by a few requirement settings. It might be different for entire home hosts, I can only speak from the vantage point of a home share host. But even if I had an entire home listing, I would still want to be in control of approving a booking.

[Debra48]

I have had the unfortunate experience of responding to guest requests, and they do not answer my questions or return a response. As a result, my calendar is blocked for 24 hours, or until I call Airbnb and get them to unblock it.  I find this to be extremely annoying, particularly since I only open my calendar for brief windows at a time and their request prevents others from booking. This happens way too often. Many people just don't seem to be on top of their communications. Sometimes, when it gets busy, I can receive at least 3 requests a day, and all of them blow off my responses, as if they are thinking once they request, their job is done and off they go, completely ignoring all further communication.

[M199]

@Debra48 

We started our Airbnb September 2021, so just have a year under our belts.  We have always used Instabook, everything checked.  We are seasonal April to October.

Of the 56 stays we've had, our experience were 2 not great in 2021.  In 2022, not a single problem.  I got an Instabook come through today for 7 days in July 2022. The guest has a  perfect 5 ⭐ rating over 48 stays.

Would not change!

Along with this booking, we're 20% booked for 2022 with 3 of 7 being return guests.

That's our experience, if it helps.

[Debra48]

This does help, thank you! I may return to Instabook, myself, now that the pandemic is (fingers crossed) winding down.

[Michelle53]

@Debra48    Re: "I have suggested to Airbnb that at the very least, establish the same parameters for the request system as Instabook, and if the prospective guest fails to meet said parameters, then automatically reroute the prospective guest to an Inquiry."

I doubt Airbnb will seriously consider your suggestion. Primarily, Airbnb is interested in booked nights as a measurement.  Instant Booking contributes much faster to booked nights than either Requests to Book or Inquiries (least likely to result in booked nights). 

Switching Instant Book on does not prevent a person with zero reviews or other missing parameters from reaching out to you via a Request to Book.  You would still have to have a conversation with those guests and possibly decline them.

As far as the 24 hours blocking of calendars is concerned, you can open the calendar at any time by declining the request, or finding a way to have the guest withdraw the request.    If that can be done within 30 minutes, Voila! Your calendar is clear. 

I have been hosting since 2015. I have never had Instant Book turned on. My space is on the property where I live, although it is a self-contained space with its own entrance. I prefer to have a conversation with every person wanting to book to make sure it will be a good experience for both of us. 

Most often, I get people requesting to book for one person, and then, after some back and forth, it transpires that there is more than one guest. Instant Book would never pick that up, and it would seem to me to be a waste of a valuable cancellation card to have to cancel those after the fact. 

Just this past week, I had a request to book come in at 11.30pm, which I did not answer until 7am next day. Fortunately, the person was online at that time. The request was for one person. He then indicated, after I asked several questions, that a friend would be flying in from a different location to join him. I said I could accept the booking, and then send a change request for the second person. An alternative would have been to have him withdraw the request, and re-request for two people.  In this instance, I accepted, sent the change request, he declined. Apparently, the price for two guests was outside of his budget. He then cancelled immediately, after it became apparent I wasn't going to discount him the cost of an extra person for 5 days. 

In an instant book scenario, I would likely never know about the second guest, unless it happened to be mentioned at some later time, or when both of them showed up on my ring doorbell. 

Airbnb would, however, far prefer that I just accepted him without question, in order to contribute to booked nights. As it happens, he was also a recently-joined, no reviews guest. Airbnb would prefer that I accept that, too, without question. As I've said before, I have no issue with zero-review guests, as long as we can have a conversation first.

I had a zero-review guest stay just last week (after winkling out that it had been a third-party request, and then needing to have her make her own account) who was wonderful.

The idea that a Request to Book might be rerouted to an Inquiry (which has far less chance of resulting in booked nights) would never fly for an instant. 

[Debra48]

We do have the option of completely turning off Request to Book if Instabook is turned on. With Instabook, there is something called Party Lock that prevents people with zero reviews from booking your property. In my world as host, reviews are paramount. Also, another advantage with Instant Book is that you can contact Airbnb and state the guest makes you uncomfortable -- Airbnb will cancel the booking without issue. It is way more difficult to get Airbnb to withdraw requests. With Request to Book, the onus of responsibility is on the host.

This is my understanding of how the system works. 

One of my big issues with Request to Book is how laggy guest communications are. I may respond to their request immediately with a question, and yet my question simply goes unheeded. Meanwhile my calendar is blocked with their request. Since I do not open my calendar far in advance, having my calendar blocked for 24 hours is an issue. Unfortunately, I have found correspondence to be completely ignored far too frequently with guests using Request to Book. And my declining the request does not come without penalty!

I really wish I hadn't been burned by unreviewed guests. Unfortunately, I have, by a doctor (no less) who I checked out online and who vowed to take care of my property as his own. He was my worst experience to date. Yet, I have never come across a positively reviewed guest who has not been respectful and willing to pay for repairs if necessary.

This has been my experience. I appreciate your sharing yours with me, and the Airbnb community!

[Colleen253]

@Debra48 “ With Instabook, there is something called Party Lock that prevents people with zero reviews from booking your property.”

I’ve never heard of Party Lock. Where is this feature?

[Debra48]

It's a feature that is built into the system. It is called Party Lock. This was explained to me by a very helpful Airbnb support agent. Further, if by any chance an IB guest is unreviewed and slips through, Airbnb will remove the booking instantly at your request, penalty free. It is one of the layers of protection offered to the host when using IB, along with verification requirement and the ability to easily cancel a booking with Airbnb if the guest makes you uncomfortable. 

[Cindy1125]

I had bad experience with a 5* with only one review (broke house rules/damages) but still was allowed to InstaBook with that one good review.  Yet a host must have a 4.8 average rating and multiple reservations to be considered "super host".  Somehow rewarding a one review guest but requiring multiple good reviews for host to get any "reward" seems a bit biased towards hosts to me.  

Also I had a 5* guest with multiple reviews attempt to bully me into lowering my monthly rate far below my area's going monthly rental rate for an unfurnished home with no utilities included (my Airbnb is furnished and includes utilities of course, which in the hot climate air conditioning is extremely expensive). 

I had very good guests who had no reviews ever.

I'm not finding the rating system to be very accurate if one expects the system to "vet" people.  

[Brian2036]

@Michelle53 

Well, I like your idea.

For whatever that’s worth.