How Does Instant Book Work? Concerned because a convicted felon instant booked my listing

[Melanie58]

Hello.  I have had my listing on Airbnb for 15 minutes.  During that time I turned on Instant Book because it said that the guests were verified by Airbnb.  My first guest quickly snapped up a three days stay.  I noticed it was a local person, which I thought was odd.  I googled this person, then searched their criminal history, and long story short, it is a local felon with a very lengthy record.  I did not feel comfortable having this person stay with my family, so I quickly cancelled the reservation.  

However, I now wonder if since they booked with "instant book" if they already received my address and other information about my home.  Do you know how much information is instantly shared with someone who books via instant book?

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

I tried IB - quality of guests dropped, then so did number of reservations. When I dropped IB, the reservations returned to normal frequency and quality of guests went back up again. Perhaps with our high end home, the normal make-a-request-to book option preserves its high end nature. IB is not worth the issues I experienced with those guests - nothing major, but not what I would call comfortable, either. 

[Alicia242]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 very interesting... It sound like thats what happens...  not fair or right at all...Im not sure how Airbnb algorithms work. But Im finding out that there are alot of unhappy hosts out there. They better fix any glitches quickly!   

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

by the term "quality" of guests, I am referring to guests who respect house rules and who have read the house rules before they arrive here.  

[Renata50]

I'm a newbie and I'm quite annoyed that instantbook is the default and I got 2 bookings immedietely without accepting them. One of my bookings I am extremely uncomfortable with because his photo is so blurry, it could be anyone! He seems really dodgy and I want to cancel his reservation but I know I will be penalised and not able to book the dates that he booked. I have turned it off now, but I'm still stuck with a booking I'm not happy about. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Renata50

I had the same happen without instant book. An unclear photo and my intuition tipped me to make a very thorough search which turned up that this man is a coinvicted felon with  a number of smaller offenses indicating either a substance issue or anger issues. I was able to report the person, and decline, thank goodness.

I have also been able to catch 3rd party booking attempts, and persons with whom our home might be a very poor match.

I am grateful to have the chance to search and converse with a requesting person, rather than being stuck with instant book.

Have you been able to turn it off?

[Carol-Lee1]

When I read the rules, according to what I read, if instant book is on, you can cancel a reservation without penalty.  If that isn't true, can someone let me know?  I'm a single woman and I want to make sure I'm not inviting a criminal into my home.

[David-And-Frances0]

If you read it, you can stand by it and not back down, and they will accept. It's a matter of conviction.  And, it only makes sense.

A good idea is to make rules that indicate your needs, and then, you can report them to Airbnb as having broken your rules.

[Carol-Ann0]

You can make sure they have presented goverment documents to airbnb and also that they have stayed with air bnb and have 

references before they can book with you you have the choice to put these stipulations on your bookings and it is wise to do so.

Make sure you have strick rules on your sight, i do and I am always booked with good people. All the very best and enjoy, it is fun 

hosting lovely People.

[Kristin93]

I don't like the Instant Book option AT ALL. Red flags all over the place, as I feel like the potential for this scenario to happen again and again is high. Personally, I would never feel comfortable turning on Instant Book as, like you said, you could be booking to a criminal who then has all your personal information including your home address!

But you know what? Airbnb is now penalizing those who DON'T do Instant Book as it's automatically checked in all searches (as opposed to being a filter that people opt in to use). Has anyone else who doesn't use Instant Book notice their requests have dramatically dropped the past couple months since this was implemented? Do you think Airbnb even actually listens to or cares about our concerns?!

[Karen109]

Kristin.

As a single female i hear you loud and clear.  I did opt to go with instant book as you are allowed to cancel reservations without penalty (up to 5 times a year i think.)

Airbnb has quickly lost it's "neighborhood feel" as far as i am concerned.  Many who do it in my area are corporate interests, investors, etc.  Whole (small) apartment buildings are being lost to residents as investors buy them and throw out the occupants.  It is a sad state in this tourist town.  

And while it is important for guests to feel taken care of, I believe they no longer care about the small scale homeowner that rents out a room or small apartment attached to their primary home.  Everything is about quick bookings and making money.  The safety of those of us renting space is of little concern to them any more.  I think there should be different considerations for owner occupied properties as our personal safety is at issue.  Empty homes or apartments don't risk an owners personal safety.

Just my $.02

Karen

Sedona, Arizona

[Kristin93]

So glad I'm not alone, Karen. I've felt really frustrated with them for the past year—I own a couple properties in Nashville (that I live in part-time so safety is DEFINITELY a concern) and recently got pinged for discrimination when I turned down a bachelor party request. I'm sorry, what?!? (I've hosted more than 300 groups of all age, color, race, size, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) Ugh. But I should be able to decide if I want a party at my place or not. I mean, it's MY home after all, right? I reached out to Airbnb three different ways and nothing—they didn't allow me to say my piece or even ask me about it. I'm a Superhost—what happened to Superhosts getting priority? Customer service with Airbnb no longer exists, it seems. It's gotten too corporate too fast, and if it continues this way, I'll probably move my business to HomeAway or VRBO, which I really don't want to do.

[Diana103]

Yup!  It sounds like Airbnb only wants us to be instabookers not super hosts anymore.  On my iPhone it automatically ticks instabooking but I can no longer find option to look for superhosts.  I don't see how you can be a super host and also an instbook at the same time.  How can you help make sure your home is a good fit?  Plus you need advance notice to get the home ready if perhaps they need something more then usual, like pulling out the couch bed, or borrowing an extra bike, etc

[Kristin93]

Is there anything we as hosts can do to make our voices heard, do you think Diana? I've reached out via Twitter—they're "passing along my suggestions," allegedly (ha)—and also was interviewed by a major news outlet today about this very issue. Anything else you guys can think of? We need an ultimate Hosting forum (Facebook maybe?) where we can all talk and share these complaints, suggestions and solutions.

[Diana103]

I have repeatedly complained to the super host pick up phone line.  I don't think Airbnb cares.  At the rate they are going they will only have bookings for hotel like homes with management companies that will never attain superhost status.  Guests will be treated like a dollar sign rather then a guest.    If Airbnb insists on automatically setting instabook for users  then we may to look elsewhere for the guests we want to attract with Airbnb's original core goals and values.

[Karen109]

I think Airbnb is so hot on the instantbook to compete with the other vacation rental companies, making it easiest to book, regardless of any host issues it might create.  As someone said, i think superhost status should get priority over instantbook.  Promoting hosts that go the extra mile to make sure guests needs are a host priority.  You only get/keep SH status if your guests are really happy.  Granted there are some sour puss guests, but i have found they are few and far between.  

As a super host i am able to decline a reservation, and one of the options as to why is that my place doesn't fit the guests need.  But we are limited to 5 annually.