I recommend that hosts not use Instant Book. I think hosts should have the opportunity to communicate with guests and ask them questions (such as: have you read my whole listing description? Have you read my house rules?), as well as screen guests, before they allow a guest to book. When you are inviting people into your own home, it is important to feel comfortable with who you will be bringing into your home. Instant book does not allow you to engage in any dialogue with guests prior to booking and so it removes all ability to screen guests. Hotels take any and all comers -- we are not hotels, we are private individuals inviting people into our own homes. This is a very intimate setting and as such there is a need to screen guests.
Those who have been a part of the host community for some time, as I have, have seen the stories about problems with guests. While it is certainly true that most guests are wonderful, considerate, respectful people, there are a few guests who are not, and hosts need to be careful. Participate in the host forums for a while and you will read some stories where hosts were made to feel very uncomfortable in their own home. (Many of those situations could have been avoided with better screening of guests, as there were in some cases warning signs in the very first communications with guests that there might be problems. )
If guests do well and get their account fully set up prior to contacting a host, and then introduce themselves to the host, and if host responds quickly, there really is no need for Instant book as a reservation can be requested by guest and accepted by host in as little as 5 to 15 minutes. So I encourage guests to get their accounts all set up, and hosts to respond quickly and know what questions they want/need to ask guests, and that is all we really need.
