Accepting bookings

[Evette1]

I'm new to this. Why does airbnb approve on my behalf before I know about it?

[Steve143 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Evette1,

It's because you have "instant book" turned on. That's what the little lightning bolt beside the price on your lesting indicates.

Instant book means that guests can book without you having to approve their request.

What is instant book?

How do I turn instant book on or off?

Answers-to-your-top-Instant-Book-questions

Steve.

[Quincy]

Hi @Evette1,

Welcome to the Community Center!

I was wondering if you have seen @Steve143's helpful reply? 

Please let us know. 

[Ana783]

Airbnb has accepted my latest booking even though the previous 2 I got today were for a longer stay which would include more income for me. Why is this? How can I change the booking to accept the first offer I got?

[Steve143]

Hello @Ana783,

You seem to have instant book turned on for your listing so guests can use this to book instantly without your pre-approval or acceptance.

I presume the 2 others you say you got were reservation requests or inquiries that you were considering before accepting or pre-approving them.

Airbnb works on a first come first served basis so the guest who instant books gets the listing irrespective of how long their booking is for.

If you don't like this and wish to manually accept each request then you should turn off instant booking.

Information on instant booking is in my previous post in this thread of responses.

Should you wish to have the first person stay then contact Airbnb support to see if they will cancel the current booking for you without penalising you for the cancellation.

Host cancellation penalties, if imposed, would include permanently blocking the cancellation dates so that you can't rent to anyone else on those dates.

Steve.

[Ana783]

Is there an email address I could mail to ask them to change the reservation? I have looked on their support page but cant seem to find it?

[Steve143]

Hello @Ana783,

For information on contacting Airbnb support you can

when logged in click on "Help" and then on "Visit the Help Centre" and then on the "Contact us" button near the end of the page. that will show phone ane message links.

or

type "contact airbnb" in the "Search the community" box on these forum pages where you posted your question. Scroll down a bit in the list of suggestions that appears and click on the "Contact Airbnb: A Community Help Guide[UPDATED]" one. That has phone numbers and Twitter & Facebook contact information

or

use your favourite search engine to search for "contact airbnb", "phone airbnb" etc.

There is no email address to which you can send customer support requests.

Steve.