Hi again @Мария15
If you select Instant Book, you can, to a certain extent, place limitations on WHO can instant book. Under booking settings there is a section called guest requirements. You can select
Must have.....
1 Airbnb standard requirements
2 Government Id
3 Profile Photo
4 Recommendations from other hosts
I personally have IB and I have all of these selected, except for Recommendations from other hosts - as I get a lot of new guests.
There are a lot of very different opinions about the virtues or otherwise of IB.
Theoretically, if a guest IBs and you feel uncomfortable, you can ring Customer Support and they will initiate the cancellation without penalty to you. Of course if has to be a reasonably valid reason, and not discriminatory.
I have had a positive experience with this. (A guest IB'd, 2 months in advance, didn't read the messages I sent her, didn't read the listing description properly and 2 days before check in, started complaining about the way things were set up and asking me to rearrange my furniture to suit her and her family. I rang CS, who were wonderful and it was then who actually suggested cancelling the booking)
Also in the guest requirements in the "your welcome message" section I have a list of questions that the guest will see prior to booking. One of the questions is "have you really read my house rules? What is the hidden code word?" This helps me ensure I get guests who HAVE read all the house rules and it also prompts them to communicate a bit. They find the question funny - at least those who go on to book do - and they are the sort of guest I want!
Since I have started doing this, I have found I have had guests who are really communicative and who I feel comfortable with. It's not foolproof of course, but it really helps.
IF you have IB and a guest wants to book your place who doesn't meet all the criteria you have selected, then they will be prompted to send a request to book. The only problem with this is that you don't always know WHY they haven't been able to instant book ( what criteria they haven't met. Sometimes it can also be because they are requesting to book outside your booking window limitations for example), so it can be a bit confusing, especially as the guest is not told why they can't IB either.
Hope that's of some help - just based on my experience, but I'm fairly new to this myself.
Cheers