specific dates for instant booking

[Michael286]

Hello everyone

I want to know whether it is possible to set up instant booking for specific dates.

I have some gaps in my calendar and I want to drop the price considerably to attract quick bookings for these few open dates.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks

Michael

[Annie1410]

Like you, I've wanted to use instant book only for specific last minute dates for years -- unsure why this kinda obvious option has not been initiated by airbnb.  I have other host-friendly suggestions like this -- unsure how to give feedback on improvements that I think many hosts would appreciate.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Annie1410 Given that Instant Bookings are more risky than booking requests and short notice bookings are riskier than long notice bookings why would you want to add to your risk by putting these things together?

[Huma0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

While I wouldn't want to combine the risks of IB and short notice bookings, I would like to see more options/flexibility with IB, i.e. being able to turn it on for certain dates and not others.

Personally, I would prefer to turn off IB completely, but Airbnb has made this pretty impossible in my area, pretty much hiding the listings in search results if you don't have it on. 

At least being able to have it on for certain dates and not others would enable hosts to experiment a bit more with what does and doesn't work for them. Seeing as I host long term stays, I often find it a bit alarming when guests IB for one months in advance without having a discussion with me, but I can understand more why they would want to IB if they only have a week or two to go before needing a place.

Also, last minute bookings have become a bit more common recently in my experience. I am not talking about the day before (I require 48 hours notice for a booking) but, for example, a recent last minute 2.5 week stay was due to the guest's new apartment not being ready in time plus the Airbnb she booked being cancelled when the host contracted COVID. So, not all last minute bookings are shady. Some are just because people's lives are more up in the air right now.