INSTANT BOOK IS AWFUL

[Deanna12]

I had a inquiry from a guest about a long term stay (1.5 months). I pre-approved them, but did NOT get an option to reserve those dates in the calendar for them. Before they could confirm, someone else Instant Booked 1 day in the middle of the block. I was forced to cancel on the person requesting the 1 day so that we could finish booking the guests who made the original inquiry. Then the date that I cancelled the other guest on was automatically blocked by AirBnB! So now my guests get a free day that AirBnB won't charge them for.

Thanks a lot AirBnB, I had to cancel on people who needed a place to stay for a funeral, because I had already promised the room to a emergency room nurse and a teacher who wanted to move to the city and needed a place to stay while they found a house. I felt pretty awful about this whole situation, and it is all thanks to Instant Book and not being given the option to reserve dates for the people I pre-approved. And now I find that I can't even turn it off, so it could happen again! What a miserable "feature".

[DiAnn2]

That is interesting...are you saying you are not able to turn off the instant book at all?

[Jennifer19]

Instant book is a terrible idea for me as well.   Can totally relate to your frustrations with it.

[Zrinka0]

When I have an inquiry for loing-term stay, let's say 10 days, I put minimum stay for inquired perios to 10 days. So, noone can take just a day or two in the middle. If someone else takes these or nearby 10 or more days, well, that's actually good :).

[Deanna12]

Hi DiAnn and Robert,

I never actually turned Instant Book on. My settings say everyone has to be approved by me. Nonetheless, AirBnB has turned Instant Book on for my account and people are using it.

I have been warning potential guests that if they know they want certain days they had best book them as soon as possible, but most of them assume that is just talk to pressure them. They just don't understand that I have no control over the bookings.

Hi Zrinka,

Setting the minimum stay to longer when talking to a long term person doesn't help me book the two three day periods I have left in my calendar. But good advice; I will have to consider that in the future. Still shouldn't need to have to do this, though.

[Cathy65]

Mandatory/imposed Instant Book is a DISASTER for hosts! When is Airbnb admin going to get this through their thick sculls???

[Carolyn5]

Disable Instant Book through Host, Manage Listings, Calendar & More, Booking (from Drop Down menu on left) then select last option requiring your response to request. Red icon will disappear after 24 hours

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Love Instant Book and find that it works great for me and have seen an increase in bookings because of it.  Makes my job as a host much easier.  

[Melanie58]

You can always show the days as booked when someone makes an inquiry - it is a checkbox option.  In that case you could have continued discussions with your month long potential guest and no one could have booked those dates until the booking was complete or declined, in which case they would open back up. 

[Jiw0]

Deanna: First of all: yes InstantBook is terrible, no argument there.   However AirBnB is determined to keep pushing it, because... fighting racism.    (Not a joke, actually)

As for setting a minimum stay period while discussing a potential long booking: you can set minimum stays only for that period only.  So your regular minimum stay can remain at 1 day, but when discussing an inquiry that's much longer, say from 15 November to 15 December, then you can define a separate minimum stay of 30 days or something for that period.   That effectively blocks it unless you'd get someone else for that long a stay during that time.

And hten I would contact AirBnB to get the option to turn InstantBook off for your listing.  AirBnB esperimented with removing the option for some hosts (without telling anyone, not even the people in their own help desk initially) but I think most people at AirBnB are by now aware that they either treat all hosts equal or they end up losing a lot of hosts.   So just push them for it.   Or if all else fails: close your account and sign up again.

[Brett25]

We have instant book turned on and occasionally have a guest make an enquiry for specific dates. We are given the option to hold those dates for 24hours (a check box) when we send a pre-approval. When we have done this no-one else is able to book that date until the guest either accepts or 24 hours expires. It seems strange you were not given that option.

[Nik11]

"Instant booking increases bookings." Indeed. But the reason why is interesting. It's because anyone who doesn't go along with the instant booking gets 'unpromoted' and shoved to the back of the line, leaving the instant booking hosts to be the only listing visiable.

The day I took myself off the instant booking I got no bookings at all for the next six weeks. Finally I put instant booking back on and two days later I got a reservation from a person I normally would have vetted out. Not enough good reviews - and a poor communicator.

The booking went south. First bad experience with a guest ever. Of course! Why not!? I couldn't screen who I was letting into my house and airbnb doesn't screen anyone at all. They do not provide customer service of any sort.

Instant booking is causing me to look for an alternative.