Enrolled on Instant booking without my consent

[Pilar1]

I have just received notification of a booking which I can't possibly fulfill and turns out that the guest was able to make it via the Instant Book feature which I never eneabled.

I can't understand this as although I looked into it earlier in the day I never turned it on as was not comforable with what I read and decided to look further into it. I'm thinking that it may be a glitch as I find it really unsettling that AirBnB is pushing this feature so much that they end up enrolling you just by looking at how it works. Have anybody found themselves in this situation? Any advice on how to proceed?  

I tried to call Airbnb but was left on hold for too long only to then find online they maybe closed, I thought they offered a 24 help line, the main reason being I have now received a system message saying the guest wants ME to cancel the booking with a countdown clock giving me 48 hours to decide to keep or it will be cancelled automatically and I will be penalised for this. 

[Emiel1]

Hi,

The Instant Booking pressure is indeed very annoyable. Maybe you turned it on by just looking into it.  Anyway, if you cancel now or if you wait for expiration, in both cases you are penalised. (Assuming this Instant Booking can not be cancelled by yourself regarding penalty-free reasons ?). Best regards, Emiel

[Simon237]

An instant book can be cancelled penailty free if the dates are not available. https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/how-do-penalty-free-cancellations-work-for-instant-book-hos...

[Pilar1]

I just managed to get it cancelled by Airbnb with no repercussions to either party as they acxknowledge there must have been a glitch at some point and it is by mutual agreement, but this is a headache I could have done without late at night as I have slept quite badly thanks to it. I was aware that any cancellation on my end would imply being penalised which I find deeply unfair even if there were valid reasons to do so as the booking didn't fullfil conditions like being endorsed by other hosts or minimum stay. I hope this helps someone else as I don't think it is an isolated case. 

Kind regards

Pilar

[Emiel1]

@Pilar1OK, good to hear your problem is solved this way. Thank you for your feedback, it is valuable. Best regards, Emiel