Instant Book Isn't Fair, and I See No One on These Pages Who Likes It

[Sylvia-And-Bob0]

We love hosting on Airbnb; however, we can't understand why you're pushing the instant book feature. We had it on for a short time, and someone booked a reservation about three months out. Because we didn't know our schedule that far out, we hadn't blocked the dates and subsequently had to cancel on him, thus costing us superhost status for a year. We refuse to use instant book for this reason, but are being punished by not having our listing as well promoted. It's a no-win situation. Looking through the discussion threads, it would seem that no one likes that those who use it are privileged.

[Jeanne47]

Why did instant quote, quote a lower rate than my stated lowest?

i had a cancellatybecause of it!

[Cathy65]

Thanks for adding your voice, Sylvia and Bob!  This is just one of several host-hurting decisions Airbnb has implemented recently. Sooner or later, everyone who has caved to the pressure to use IB will suffer some godawful guest they would otherwise have turned down. 

It's much worse than just "not as well promoted" -- they now have default IB turned on most of the time, which means your listing disappears entirely if you have not rolled over to accept IB.

I just don't understand what is going on with a site I used to regard as a friendly, well-designed platform.  I have been a superhost for some time, and recently the top listing in my market is a student flophouse whose first review noted a soiled matress in the entryway and strong smell of marijuana when they arrived. Our other listing (my mother's house) now routinely appears below a crappy Super8 Motel (I am not making this up)!!! My reservations have almost completely dried up over the past couple of months.

What is going on, Airbnb, and are you LISTENING to your hosts?  Why do we hear NOTHING from you when we are obviously losing all faith in your platform???

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Love IB and have been a strong supporter.  You can see my posts regarding this in several threads.  There are many of us who use it and appreciate it's simplicity, just look at how many IB homes are in your area.   If you don't like IB, turn it off.  

[Sylvia-And-Bob0]

HI, Alice and Jeff,

We get why people use it and why they like it, and we have turned it off. What we object to is that the IB listings are given preference over non-IB listings. To find our listing, a guest must search through pages of listings to get to ours--even though our listing is (I think it still is) the listing with the most reviews. Guests should be able to filter for IBs but Airbnb shouldn't give them preference.

[Cathy65]

Alice & Jeff ~

Feel free to LOVE Instant Book. That's not the issue, whether it works for you!  You would not LOVE the concept if you were, like many of us, an older woman host accepting guests into your shared household. I have been hosting since 2012, and in my college town, believe me, I have had some extreme-weirdo guests. Many of us very much need to be able to vet our guests! 

IB is no longer a CHOICE -- if you don't "choose" it, your listing DISAPPEARS for the most part. So, it's a matter of caving in to IB, or effectively being frozen out of the site.  This becomes a critical issue for those of us who both need to feel safe in our own homes, and have become very reliant on the Airbnb income, as I have been since the death of my husband three years ago. 

You might try thinking about things more broadly than just how it affects you. But it WILL affect you -- and everyone on Airbnb -- if unvetted guests start resulting in a lot of high-profile horror stories. A couple of headlines like "Elderly widow raped and killed by unvetted guest," and you can kiss your Airbnb business goodbye.