Instant Book do I need to decline?

[Katrina79]

Hi,

I’m hoping one of the wonderful hosts can give me advise. Last night I received an instant book request for the same day. I responded quickly with a couple important facts about my listing to ensure they wanted to stay and agreed to my rules. I didn’t get a response from the guest, so I didn’t approve the request. Do I still need to decline the request to avoid being penalized? What reproductions will I face if:

1) I do nothing and let the request expire

2) decline the request

3) accept even though the requested date has passed 

Thank you! 

[Emiel1]

@Katrina79 

If it is a booking request, you must accept or decline (if the guest himself is not retracting the request) within the time limit. So i guess decline is your only option, but i would choose for reason "feel uncomfortable with the guest" because the guest is not communicating and blocking dates on your calender, preventing other people to book.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Katrina79]

@Emiel1 @Thank you for the help, I’ll take your advice and do just that! @Kat84 @It was an instant book request made at 10:30pm for that same night with check-in after 1am. No response to my message from the guest so I’m left with three options: accept, decline, or ignore. It is clear the guest won’t be staying but I wondered how each of these options may affect my stats as a host. 

[Kat84]

If you accept, then the payment will go through and you will have to deal with any disputes, if ever. 

If you decline, too many declines will downgrade your listing in search. 

So, I guess ignoring is the best option. 

[Kat84]

It seems to me that you are confused between Instant book and Request to book. If you have an option to accept or decline, it means you have a Request to book. If booking is made without such option, it means that you are on Instant book. Instant book can be "declined" with Airbnb help. Most probably you have a Request to book, so you are in control, whom to accept or not. 

[Emilia42]

@Katrina79, I am assuming you got the option to request or decline because you have this little box checked as a condition of your instant booking:

So for same day reservations your instant booking now becomes a request to book. You will need to either accept or decline. In this case, decline if you still can. I think it should say "not possible" if the date has already passed.

[Katrina79]

@Emilia42 @Yes you are correct, and I think it was you that had given me the advice to begin with about checking that little box! I declined the booking just now even though it is obvious they won’t be staying. It’s unfortunate because it will probably count against me as declining a request, or will it?