Instant Book feature technical glitch

[Craig178]

Hi,

It has been since October 31st that my listing does not show up in serch at all when the guests filter area listings by selecting the "Instant Book" filter. If the "Instant Book" filter is turned off, my listing shows up right away on top of the list with a message "Rare find, usually booked". The "Instant Book" feature is "turned on" on my booking. Guests should be able to use Instant Book to book my listing, but for the last three weeks they have been sending me requests to book.

Thanks

Craig

[Lawrene0 · Accepted solution]

A couple of things, @Craig178. The first is that you have a ton of reviews, but only as a host. I don't see any reviews of you as a guest. So you may not qualify to see your own listing as Instant Book, because you would not host yourself, so to speak. And those people sending requests may not qualify either. Do you require guests to have previous reviews and government ID? That would explain why they (and you) cannot Instant Book.

See if it is that. If not, there are a couple of other theories out there right now. One is that when too many guests use the cancel-within-48-hours offer, the host is penalized. That one is ridiculous if it is real, and hopefully gets fixed soon. 

[Craig178]

Hi Lawrence,

Thank you so much for your response. I have only basic Airbnb requirement turned on. I do not request recommendations from other hosts or government ID. It all happened after I contacted Airbnb to cancel a reservation that guest made using "Instant Book".  The guest broke 3 of my listing rules by using the "Instant Book" to book my house. The Airbnb support staff was able to see that and cancelled the guest's reservation on my behalf. I have been contacting Airbnb to fix this issue since Friday, November 16th when I realized that guests can't Instant Book me since October 31st (that was when Airbnb cancelled that reservation on my behalf). I am not sure what to do. I sent several messages to Airbnb and they keep telling me that they will direct this issue to the appropriate team and nobody from the appropriate team contacts me to even explain what is going on. It is really frustrating and I am honestly not even sure where to seek help at this point. Thanks for your help.

[Lawrene0]

Aha! So it is true, @Craig178. Another host wrote here in the forum that she lost Instant Book when "too many guests" cancelled using the 48-hours offer: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/hidden-fines-for-host-when-guest-uses-48-hour-grace-peri...

It sounds like cancellations in general are somehow tied to Instant Book.

How tedious for you. You will have to keep nagging. Take a look at the advice in that other thread. 

Really hope it gets solved soon!

[Susie98]

Hello,

I am a superhost who has been hosting 2 properties for over a year. The majority of my bookings are instant, but I have not had any instant bookings within the last several weeks. I have called and emailed Airbnb over 10 times with no definitive answers as to why guests who meet all of my instant book requirements cannot instant book. I am coming up on busy season and am concerned this will affect my business.  Any advice for this problem?

Thanks in advance!

Susie

[Craig178]

Hi Susie,

I had to contact the customer support numerous times for the issue being resolved. I was without the Intant Book feature for close to 1 month and a half (from the day that I found out). I was never explained the reason why I lost it or why it took so long to fix it.

 Susie, I would encourage you to keep contacting them persistently until the issue is resolved. Sorry, I am unable to provide any more information. I knew that over time it would be fixed, but because it took them so long to fix the Instant Book, I lost a lot of bookings and money that come with it. My bookings stopped abruptly once I lost Instant Book. 

I wish you good luck and hopefully this issue will be fixed soon.

Thanks

Craig

[Craig178]

Lawrence, thank you so much for the helpful link!!! I knew all along that it had to do with that cancellation. The Airbnb customer service guy cancelled the reservation on my behalf and told me that he would contact the guest and explain her that she broke 3 of my rules when she booked my house. Instead, the Airbnb customer service guy just cancelled the guest's reservation without letting the guest know why he did it. The guest rebooked my house again the next day. I called Airbnb and spoke to another guy who told me that I have to write an explanation to a guest letting letting her know why her reservation was cancelled. Both Airbn customer service reps. insured me that I will not be penalized since it was the guest who broke 3 of my listing rules when she booked the house.

On Sunday, when I spoke to the Airbnb manager I addressed this issue, and he told me that he did not see why my Instant Book feature would not work because of this cancellation.

I can fill that my listing is flagged in the Airbnb system. Two of the customer service reps. disconnect from the conversation with me just in the middle of me talking about my issue. Previously, when I called, I was treated with respect and they kept thanking me for being a superhost. When I called last time, I was on hold for a while and when the customer rep. picked up the phone, there was not mentioning that I was a superhost.

It is very sad that superhosts are treated this way. I will keep conctacting Airbnb and will try to get an explanation of what is gong on.

Thanks for your help Lawrence!

[Craig178]

Lawrence, below is what I just sent Airbnb about being flagged and losing the Instant Book feature.

Thanks again for all your help and  insight into the issue!

Craig

That is what I sent to Airbnb:

"My listing has been flagged by Airbnb. The Instant Book feature on my listing does not work though it is on. It stopped working after my last encounter with Airbnb customer service representative.

A guest named Brianna used Instant Book to book my house. Though she agreed to all my rules when booking, her booking clearly indicated that she broke 3 of my house listing rules when she booked the house. When I saw that, I immediately called Airbnb customer service.

The Airbnb customer service guy who I spoke with initially verified the rules on my listing to make sure that Brianna indeed broke 3 of my rules. After he verified that Brianna broke 3 of my listing rules,  he told me that he would contact Brianna and would cancel her reservation, will explain her that she broke 3 of my rules when she booked my house.

The next day, Brianna rebooked my house again. I called Airbnb again and this time spoke to James who told me that though, Brianna's reservation was cancelled by Airbnb on my behalf, Brianna has never received an explanation of why her reservation was cancelled. I was shocked when I realized that the previous Airbnb customer service guy just cancelled Brianna's reservation without ever informing her.

I told James that it was wrong to treat a guest that way. James told me that for him to cancel Brianna's reservation on my behalf, he will need from me a written explanation letting Brianna know why her reservation was cancelled.

Both Airbn customer service reps.(the 1st guy and James) assured me that I will not be penalized if they cancel this reservation on my behalf because it was Brianna who broke 3 of my listing rules when she booked the house.

On Sunday, when I spoke to the Airbnb manager I addressed the relation between Instant Book feature not working on my listing and  Brianna's reservation being cancelled.  The manager told me that he did not see why my Instant Book feature would not work because of this cancellation.

I honestly believe that I was penalized for Brianna's reservation being cancelled though, it was her who broke 3 of my house rules when she booked my house. 

I can also feel that my listing has been flagged in the Airbnb system. On Sunday, November 18th, two customer service representatives (that I spoke with during two different phone calls) dropped my call in the middle of me talking to them about the Instant Book issue. Previously, when I called Airbnb, I was treated with respect, I have been thanked for being a superhost. When I called on Sunday, I was on hold for a while and when the customer rep. picked up the phone, there was not even mentioning that I was a superhost.

To sum it all up, I would like for someone to look into the Instant Book feature being turned off on my listing and not to penalize me for asking Airbnb to cancel a reservation in which, a guest breaks 3 of my house listing rules.

I go above and beyond to provide an outstanding customer service experience for my guests. I hosted 48 guests so far, and got 44 "5 star reviews". Only 4 out of 48 guests did not leave a review. It should be a good indication that I do provide excellent customer service, treat every guest with respect and care for each and every guest who either books my house or just sends an inquiry to book it.

I would like to ask you to re-install the Instant Book feature on my listing as soon as possible, so I could continue to provide a great guest experience.

Sincerely,

Craig

[Lawrene0]

How awful, @Craig178! What I would do is condense the story. Get it down to the just the facts and the ask so you can keep repeating it, and so it is short enough for them to pay attention. 

Something like: "Guest Brittany booked twice, indicating she would break three of my house rules. Customer service cancelled both bookings "penalty-free", but at great cost to me. I lost Instant Book. Please restore this valued feature. If my listing is flagged, please unflag it."

[Craig178]

Hi Lawrence,

Thank you for all  your help!!! I am a rather new host (since February 2018), and I am still learning to navigate through the Airbnb system. Thanks again. I will definitely condense it and will use all your recommendations. Craig

[Debra167]

Hi Craig,

I am having the same problem. I had to move several guests into other parts of my home for 2 weeks when I had a shower fail and needed to rip out walls and the floor. Airbnb canceled the listings for 2 guests who preferred to cancel and promised I would not be penalized. Not true. The message my guests get has HALVED my bookings. Please let me know if you get this figured out and I will do the same for you. Here's what 

Airbnb to me: This is a relatively new feature to our platform, which is why it took me so long to find this information. Apparently the system considers there to be a high risk of cancellation based on recent activity and overall hosting history, this includes recent cancellations, booking inquiries declined, messages sent, and viewing the listing calendars. There is no way for me to override this but becoming more active will remove the setting and return your listings to Instant Book. The assessment for this is completed every 7 days.

Me to Airbnb: Thank you, Josiah for making the effort. There is a problem with the Airbnb algorithm. How can I become more active when Airbnb is actively thwarting my opportunities! I am extremely dedicated and active, having increased my listings from one in January to six now I regularly add new photos, and tweak my messaging as well as improving ALL my listings based on customer feedback. While I understand that you personally cannot help me, I need contact with someone who can. What is it that I need to change in my messaging? What can I do to improve my listings so as to conform to Airbnb requirements? As you know, I HAVE MADE NO CANCELLATIONS and have consistently communicated with Airbnb when a problem exists. NOR HAVE I DECLINED ANY BOOKING ENQUIRY EXCEPT TWO WHERE GUESTS WERE REQUESTING TO ADD TWO OR MORE GUESTS THAN I HAVE BEDS FOR AND FOR GUEST NUMBERS THAT ARE NOT ADVERTISED. In those cases I checked to see if I could offer another of my rooms to accommodate more guests for those requesting more guests. Please let me know who CAN help me. I am asking because I care; because it matters. Excellence is critical to me. I do not wish to go to another platform, or add another platform, but will ultimately make a business decision, as I'm sure you understand. Thanks again for your help. Let's make this better!

Here's what Airbnb said to me and my response. 

[Danny210]

Same problem! 

I haven't had any 'instant books' for weeks.

I was recently made aware of a possible problem with 'Instant books' on the Airbnb website, and sure enough, it's a problem for me too.

When I search for 'Queenstown, 21-23 December, entire place' my house is listed at the top of the search, when I select 'instant book' it is nowhere to be found, despite my 'instant book' being activated.

Basically, AirBnb have told me that there's a HUGE gremlin in the AirBnb back-end which makes my property disappear when potential guests search for an instant book. However, it's an account problem, rather than a listing problem because I have tried creating a new listing and the result is the same.

It's dramatically impacting me financially. AirBnb are being worse than useless and basically doing nothing whilst telling me that they have no idea when/if it will be fixed.

Any ideas?

[Kathie10]

Danny -

I have had a similar issue recently.  I required potential guests to meet most of the requirements, including positive reviews by other hosts.  I discovered on my own that my listings were found when Instant Book was not a criteria, but were not found when Instant Book was selected.  

I called Support about this and other issues and was fortunate to talk to a very knowledgeable and helpful guy. He could not explain why my listings were not being found.  He suggested that I eliminate each requirement one by one to see if that changed the results.

I did that and voila! When I removed the requirement for positive host reviews, suddenly my listings were found!

I'd love to hear Airbnb's explanation. They encourage us to offer instant booking and enable the host to select criteria, but then WITHOUT NOTIFICATION to the host, remove your place from search results!  

[Craig178]

Hi and thanks for your responses. The solution to this problem can be either:

- To become very active in forums, so hosts all over the world would become aware that though, their listings have Instant Book feature on, it does not necessarily mean that guests can find their listing by using the Instant Book filter. It is my assumption that my account is flagged in their system. At this point, I have no clue how long it will take to get Instant Book feature back on my account (the Instant Book stopped working around October 31st to my knowledge). Please see the details below explaining my observations in regards to this issue.

- To start shopping around for similar services

Please note that it won’t help to create another listing in the hope of getting the Instant Book feature back. It does not matter how many listings you will create – it is the host’s account that got the Instant Book feature de-activated.

Explanation of the above:

I e-mailed Airbnb numerous times and got no response to my inquiries. All my e-mails about the Instant Book issue got the following message after just a few hours "Your case was closed." After sending and re-sending my inquiries, several days ago I got the following message, which did not answer any of my questions. Please see below the message I received from Airbnb several days ago.

Response from Airbnb:

"I've heard back from the technical team who asked me to let you know that they've documented this issue and truly appreciate your report. (Please note that I have been without the Instant Book since October 31st to my knowledge). They're investigating the root cause of the problem and working to fix it as quickly as possible, but unfortunately they were unable to give me an idea of when it would be completely resolved. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused but rest assured our team is working on finding a solution to this concern.”

As I mentioned before, I think (it is my assumption) that my account was flagged because of the recent cancellations ( 1 guest cancelled the reservation because the guest realized that the wrong date was booked, another guest broke 3 rules when booked my house. It was Airbnb (not me) who cancelled this guest’s booking on my behalf. Per Airbnb's words "You as a host won't be penalized because it was the guest who broke your house rules".

Reading other hosts’ reviews, I realized that no one knows when their algorithm will lift this sort of ban that Airbnb imposes on hosts. I personally do not see it happening soon in my case. Someone mentioned that a host in this position gets re-evaluated every 7 days (in my case it has been more than 21 days).

Something to note:

Several days ago, I got an inquiry from a guest who wanted to book my house (surprise, surprise - I have the Instant Book on, and a guest can't Instant Book my house). So, I accepted this guest. The moment I did it, Airbnb sent me a message saying that the guest did not provide payment information and that this guest had 24 hours to make a payment. My calendar was blocked for 24 hours and then I got a "Cancellation message" from Airbnb telling me that the guest did not pay and because of this, the guest's booking was cancelled. It also said that there would be no penalty for me (ha, ha, now I know better). Looking at the previous pattern, I can only assume (and I believe that I am right), Airbnb will count this cancellation against me, though it was the guest who was unable to make a payment. My question is “Why would they allow someone to book the house without payment?” Does not make any sense.

Today, I got another unusual inquiry - to book my house for a year. I don't allow long term stays, any stays longer than 26 or 27 days are not allowed. I honestly now wonder…  I am afraid that if the guest withdraws this inquiry or when the inquiry expires - I might be penalized for it. It will make the prospect of getting Instant Book back very slim (again it is my assumption). Unfortunately, I have no choice, but to analyze and to make assumption because I receive no answers to my inquires.

Any thoughts…

Thanks

Craig

[Danny210]

...just that I'm still waiting for action from AirBnb. 

My system has been glitchy too. I had no bookings (or any activity) from AirBnb for days and days, then I received a cancelled booking AND a booking request for the same dates!! WTF??