Instant book.

[Joana30]

Hi everyone. I am new to hosting and i wanted to ask your opinion about instant book? Do you advice instant book to someone that is starting to rent here? Thanks in advance.

[Enrique21]

Hi Joana,
Thats fine if you just started doing this. Thats fine even if you want to turn instant booking. BUT make sure when you do... ONLY accept instant booking from people with positive reviews. That way you will feel better knowing that other guests met them and found them to be nice and responsible people.

[Lawrene0]

@Joana30, received wisdom in this forum is against Instant Book, especially if you are new. It scares me to death, for sure, and I have hosted for years. 

All the best hosting! It is great fun.

[Helen3]

Hi @Joana30

If you use the search function here for Instant Book - you'll see lots of the discussions on this topic.

[Ange2]

@Joana30   I think getting used to hosting first is a better idea instead of jumping in at the deep end.  With Instant Book (IB) you have little to no control over who books. There are  a few parameters, but hosts have said they don't work all the time. In my experience being able to have a conversation with the guest before they book is a good idea for many reasons.

[Carolyn5]

I would not recommend Instant Book as you have no control over who books before dates are already commited, and sometimes this can result in double bookings etc. You do have the option to cancel a guest if you are uncomfortable with them or overbooked or whatever, but that will affect your status as a host, and may result in you being fined by Air BnB for doing this. If you do cancel, ask the guest to do this as you will be held responsible if you take the initiative. 

I always leave it to guests to contact me first so that I can check them out. It's simpler and safer.

Cheers,

Carolyn

[Sandra126]

Some hosts like it. I hope it will not be compulsory as I don't want it and see no need whatsoever. There are moves to make us all choose it by the end of the year, we will see what happens in October when Airbnb changes are allegedly going ahead. If you have a choice, don't do it, at least until you are a more experienced host as so many hosts run into difficulty because of it.

All the best, happy hosting!

(the fact that you state the very close proximity to the Police station on your listing is excellent, will deter any guests with bad intent!)

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

Although many hosts warn against IB, I have been using it since the inception of my listing a year ago with great results.  I think a lot of the troubles come from guests who rent their entire home.  Problem guests know there is no one else in the house watching what they do - so they have parties, they steal, they make a mess, etc.  I rent a guest bedroom in my home, so my guests know my husband and I will be present.  We don't require guests to have previous reviews and get newbies to Airbnb fairly frequently and it has so far been a positive experience.  We are able to give them an awesome first impression of Airbnb and they go one to be good guests elsewhere. 

I say consider your situation carefully and weigh the pros and cons.

[Bob39]

I am very much against Instant Booking, because with it you lose control over who gets to stay in your house. That is a huge loss of power for you, and there is no compensation to for that loss. It is far better to screen each guest carefully, read past reviews of them and exchange messages with them for a while before accepting the booking. Airbnb claims you will get more bookings with IB turned on, and that might be true, but the people coming to your house will be total unknowns to you. With IB turned off, you have guests you hand-selected yourself, and you may have fewer bookings and thus make less money over the course of time. But the guests will be better people and more suited to your house. And that's more important than the total amount of money you make, in my opinion.

[Judy72]

I was unsure about instant book and called airbnb. I got a nice guy and explained that I live alone, am over 70  and was more than satisfied with my bookings but thought that I might be missing out on something I should do. He said " if you were my grandmother I would tell you absolutly not to do it. It is more for people who rent out spaces that they do not occupy" I appreciated that info and wanted to share it with you. Judy

[Robert36]

What is the number to call airbnb please

[Robert36]

I want to know how to put my account on hold for two weeks I will not be able to manage Inquireries and dont want to instant book and dont want to be dinged for not responding

[Lawrene0]

@Robert36, you don't have to call AirBnB for that. Just snooze your listing. Go to Your Listing -> Calendar and More -> the menu on the extreme left. At the bottom you will see "Listed". Change that to Snoozed. You can pick your dates.

Also, when you have a new question, it is best to post it as a new question and not add it to the "answer" of someone else's question. You did not know this, and that's okay, but just for future, it makes things easier for everyone because then it is searchable. Actually, in this case, your question has already been answered in this forum. So 1) do a search for what you want, 2) if you don't find it, post it as a new question and not in an existing thread. Don't worry. It is not obvious when you first arrive in the forum that this is the protocol. I have been following things for a while and wish there was a way to tell people this. So this is my attempt... 

Hope this helps!

[Cristina-And-Daniel0]

I became a new host only about 2 months ago and have been afraid to use the Instant book feature mainly to avoid guests I didn't feel comfortable with. My flat is always booked, had 93% occupancy last month, and recieve lots of enquiries even without IB. So I don't think IB makes much difference. Hope this helps!

[Paul-and-Emily0]

Hey Joana, I'm a new host and my suggestion would be to not use Instant Book for these 3 reasons.

1. I wanted to get to know my guests better. I have been able to communicate with my guests before they book/before I except their booking thus giving me the opportunity to know if there's a special occasion they're celebrating or just learn more about them by asking them some questions and initiating some conversation. To me that's a big part of airbnb. 

2. As a new host, I wanted to learn all the 'ins and outs' of the process. Not using Insant Book I felt gave me more hands on.

3. I am able to choose my guests and dismiss someone if I really feel I need to. I'm more in control of who stays at my place.

This was my thinking. Hope it helps! 🙂