No one so far has help me to turn off Instant Book.. please read my message body before replying :)

[Andrew83]

EITHER OF THESE HAS WORKED - I JUST DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE THE OPTION TO TURN OFF INSTANT BOOK

@Jan  there are 2 ways to disable Instant Book:  

1. Go to Manage Listing  and to the right of the Calendar and More and Preview, you'll see a lightening bolt.  Click on it and it should change color from yellow to grey. 

2. Click on Calendar and More, then on the menu to the left click on Booking.  Under Who Can Book Instantly, select No One....

[Donna15]

@Andrew83, I see you're a new host. Unfortunately, AirBnB has been targeting - experimenting with - some new hosts recently and not providing the option to turn off Instant Book. There have already been a few threads regarding this highly questionable development. 

I suggest you contact AirBnB and emphasise that you do not want to use this IB function.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Tips-Tricks/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165

You can reach them as well via the Help link at bottom of this page.

Or via their Facebook timeline.

https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/?fref=ts

Or – if you have a Twitter account - try twitter@airbnbhelp. It’s said there’s a quick response.

More essential reading for hosts.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/General-Hosting/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#U23100

[Clare0]

@Andrew83 since my last post to you I have discovered that Airbnb is automatically adding Instant Book to new listings and not allowing hosts to change it. 

You can read all the posts about this subject here: 

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/New-Hosts/Disable-Instant-Book-can-t-find-option-anywhere/td-p/96135

And yes, it would be helpful to communicate to Airbnb your displeasure with this policy.  You can give feedback here: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

[Mynor0]

Also a new host, really unhappy, called, tweeted, filed feedback, and probably won't list until they fix this. The nice rep on the phone tried to walk me through turning off Instant Book (but the options aren't on my page), put me on hold for 5 minutes, came back with deep apologies, and subsequently sent an email with a link to a feedback page with a drop down menu where you can choose Instant Book: https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback?type=instantbook

Here's a thought, though:

Since as hosts we can cancel if they break the House Rules, what about this rule?

#1: YOU MUST CONTACT HOST BEFORE BOOKING. AirBnB will not let us turn of the Instant Book feature at this time.

[Clare0]

@Mynor0 Don't think putting the requirement to book without Instant Book in the House Rules would stand up as breaking house rules.  Nice try though.  Since Airbnb is so unwilling to bend this new rule I think those hosts affected by it should provide the feedback as the support person suggested. Maybe if they get enough complaints they'll reverse the policy.  I've already emailed higher ups in Airbnb about this. 

[Mynor0]

Well, we've done our part on the contacting - hope they respond soon.

[Mynor1]

I decided to add how we resolved the problem for ourselves, although it won't work for everyone:

I read through the Terms and Conditions and decided to delete my account and start over. with the hope that the new account wouldn't be a part of the dreaded Instant Book kidnapping. This was possible since I hadn't opened my listing for reservations yet and didn't have feedback or anything else to lose and after someone from the phone help department told me you can't have 2 active accounts at once but creating a new account once you have deactivated your first one wouldn't be considered a violation. 

IT WORKED! When we signed up again and added in our listing it gave us the options we didn’t get the 1st time around. I am still angry that we spent much of 3 days trying different things, searching the internet, waiting on hold, emailing back and forth, and creating new listings and accounts in order to get here, but at least we’re ready to list now without the dreaded Instant Book requirement. I hope Airbnb will see how unfair it is and fix the problem for everyone.

Good luck!