Please make the pop-up message on InstantBook more truthful.

[Jiw0]

When you search AirBnB as a guest, you get this pop up now: 

The button text is "Show Instant Book Listings".   But at this point, Instant Book listings are already shown.  What it actually does is HIDE listings that don't have instant book turned on.  It even hides listings that have instant book turned on only for guests with previous successful stays.

I think a lot has been said about InstantBook already and my personal opinion is that in a *community*, especially a community that involves close personal contact, it is a *good thing* to talk to each other like human beings do. 

But we can agree to disagree here; if InstantBook is the new way to go about things then that's fine.  But can we be honest in the way the message is delivered?    So a button text like "Show *Only* Instantbook Listings"  or "Hide hosts that prefer to chat with me first." ?

Or how about more than one button actually.  People don't get much of a choice, do they?

[BruceandJulio0]

Hey.....I am not so concerned about having bad guests, its just the loss of control and inflexability. For example sometimes during the week I might accept a 1 or 2 night booking so I have my minimum nights set at 1 to attract these kind of customers. However towards the weekend I am less likely to accept this kind of booking as it cuts the possability of longer weekend bookings. I believe instant book takes away this possability. If I put a house rule of :  For bookings of 1-2 nights starting Fri, Sat, please contact me first.  If people then booked a 1 night stay could I cancel without being penalised?

[BruceandJulio0]

It basically boils done to airbnb saying to hosts. If you want to be visible to guests, even those that dont need to book straight away, then you HAVE TO use instant book. Airbnb keep reminding you to reply within 24 hours and in many cases most hosts reply within a couple of hours, now this is not good enough!!!

[Éva-and-Dan0]

This is just blackmail, plain and simple. Nasty company, wants us to be compliant little cogs in its money-making machine. They also constantly chivvy you to switch on "intelligent pricing", which always goes WAY below a fair market price. So eventually you end up nothing more than a glorified chambermaid for their burgeoning hotel empire.

[Christa-And-Zach0]

Just FYI - they also have used our ability to have government IDs on file for guests UNLESS you turn Instant Book on. Apparently they are blackmailing us with our safety now. I have written to them just now:

"

A year ago, without any notification to hosts whatsoever, Airbnb automatically filtered out listings who did not have Instant Book turned on. After a month of having little no bookings and wondering how we were going to pay our bills, we stumbled upon this fact and only then learned that we had essentially been hidden from all users without any warning. Your company has forced our hand into turning on Instant Book just so we can continue to use this platform, causing major inconveniences (such as limiting our ability to choose when to accept one-night stay is available to fill a gap, or when it is booked three months in advance in the middle of an entire week).

Now today, I go to turn off Instant Book so that it a booking does not occur during a time when we are out of town (and no, your reservation requirements for specific dates do not work in the slightest), I see that your company is no longer allowing us to protect ourselves securely in our homes since we have turned it off. Apparently security is only offered to a select few.

Just to give you a bit of a backstory here: before our hand was forced into Instant Book in 2017 to make even $1 on this site, we were ALWAYS permitted to require an ID for guests to book with us. This was a no-brainer. Now, Airbnb has decided that security is only for the folks who fall into the ploy of Instant Book (or, for those of those who can actually manage to do it), and has removed the right to requiring a government-ID. This is shocking, and disgusting.

For such a PR ravaged company, with countless stories of thefts, unknowing sex parties in private homes, major damages and incidents, and physical and sexual assaults (and even a false imprisonment case!) that have made the news, this comes at a huge shock. I'm not entirely shocked that such a big company like Airbnb doesn't care about a host's safety anymore; I'm entirely surprised that you don't care more about your image.

I have been a fiercely loyal Airbnb user and host for 7 years. In fact, we have just received Superhost status today for the fifth time in a row, and this news of removal of security was the congratulations I received. I was on the fence last year, but it's clear the time has come for us to seek out Vrbo, Tripz, Homeaway, Flipkey, and Wimdu when welcoming strangers into MY HOME. I will now book personal trips through others venues at every opportunity I can get, as they do what is right by protect their hosts' security. I will encourage others and my media contacts to do the same until this horrible policy is reversed.

Regards."

[Amy38]

Curious and curiouser..

yesterday, I was doing one of my periodic comparison shopping for places near me, and I had page after page without instant book even after I added it to my search filter...superhosts did not particularly pop up either!

These guys are a blot on Silicon Valley...worstcoding ever for a platform this size.