Pressure on hosts from Airbnb to accept bookings

Pressure on hosts from Airbnb to accept bookings

Airbnb is pressuring hosts to accept bookings in two ways, Instant Book and the new policy to permanently block your calendar for not accepting or denying a booking request within 24 hours. I have always thought that Instant Book is counter to the founding principles of Airbnb and have said so at every opportunity. The new policy of blocking your calendar causes problems for us when we try to extract some information from a potential guest and they just do not respond within 24 hours. This leaves the only recourse of denying the request (and I do not think this is what Airbnb wants). We have many newbie guests who have no profile (I thought there was once an effort to prevent this) and are very reticent to share any information even though they are coming to our home. This is NOT a hotel and we need to VET guests without time pressure from Airbnb.

 

Airbnb has been very good in almost every way, but I sense more and more of the corporate mind at work.

26 Comments
Dee9
Level 10

@Keith2 I too am a scrutinizing host however that said, if i were a potential new renter looking at your place A. I would never read anything that long. By the THIRD paragraph I would already get the vibe that you dont really want a "new" guest and I dont really want to BE your guest, and B. what a cold, unfriendly, unwarming, standoffish way to scare a new person away from airbnb, and your home.

Im curious, do you acually get many reservations from new people with that introduction???

Youre making it sound like youre doing them a favor, which is arrogant. What youre really doing is saying "i dont want you here."

Tone it down man.

Shannon50
Level 2

 Is there any way to undo the permanent block that Airbnb puts when you don't approve or decline a request within 24 hours?   I have three days in a row blocked that don't need to be.  The person inquiring and I messaged and then we realized my place was too far from where she needed to stay.  We both agreed it wasn't going to be her best option, and I just forgot to "decline".  

 

Is there a way to actually email or speak to a customer service rep for Airbnb?

Wyatt
Host Voice Admin
Status changed to: Under Consideration

The status of this Idea has been changed to Under Consideration. The Ideas in Host Voice with the most Thumbs Up are reviewed closely by the Airbnb product team. The status of this Idea will be updated according to this discussion. We appreciate your patience as we try to thoughtfully listen and respond to this Idea.

Agree!

Leslie7
Level 10

I also absolutely hate the idea of instabook. I suspect that it is an effort to compete with the hotels, which goes against the idea of Airbnb. It used to be that people used Airbnb in order to have a different kind of experience. Now they use it to find the cheapest accommodations. Also, forcing a host to actually accept or decline, and then penalizing them for declining, is completely unfair. What happened to the idea of just needing to communicate within 24 hours? Often I have a guest make a request, and I send a question which they don't answer within the time period. Under the old system I have fulfillfed my obligation, but now I am either forced to accept a guest I don't know enough about, or penalized for declining them. Bring  back the old system where a communication fulfilled the obligation to respond within 24 hours.

JimandKathy0
Level 5

Thanks for your and others comments. I know that we are not alone in
thinking that instant book is contrary to the original spirit of airbnb.
There must be tremendous pressure on the business to grow and increase profits.

If I may digress, it is a shame that our form of capitalistic
greed has to invade every corner of our lives.
We still enjoy our guests and they enjoy staying with us.

Helga0
Level 10

Reading up on older threads, this one seems strange to me. 

There is a pressure to accept bookings: the moment I set up a listing, I feel eager to get requests and very much obliged to accept them, if there are not very good reasons not to accept one of them. 

I set some strict conditions (no smoking etc) in the rules, a few strong suggestions (please do that or negotiate otherwise in advance) and that's enough. Overall, I can compare 7 months without IB, a few months of slowly becoming the IB and a year of lots of IB. 

I still get new guests, which cannot IB that listing. 

 

The second winter (with IB) was better booked, although the published description and rules are stricter, much less is open to imagination- before , there was more room for publicity like formulation. 

It's shared living in an extremely tiny space and my quality of life improved not degraded. 

i'd say: the trick is formulating everything that is extremely important in the listing, which would reasonably be about 10 things. 

Add a few more things at need in person, keeping in mind, that people cannot memorise more than 3 unrelated things, that make no sense to them (3 is already a good value). 

And most important: that's it. The rest needs to be a space of freedom to the guest. I may whince inside if someone butters his bread directly on the table, I may offer him a plate twice, but if he does it again the 3rd time, that's his choice, no need to make a rule about using dishes , glasses and cutlery. 

We do not run prison wards, military schools cloisters. Hospiality means also, that people are not shamed for the way they do things, as long it does no damage or is rearranged afterwards. 

It's a pleasant business. You can't have the pleasure alone. At least not on a business platform. 

JimandKathy0
Level 5

Helga,

Thank you for your comments, but I really do not see the relevance to the point that I was making. I hope you continue to enjoy hosting and all the best.

Hilary-And-Ed0
Level 10

Agreed.  Particularly for people who are renting private bedrooms or shared spaces in the homes where they live, it is a safety must to know who, and how many people are coming (including infants).  

Richard_Karen0
Level 3

Not a fan of IB, one of the major issues to me is can't control checkin check out dates. eg Christmas and other important (family) dates: I want guests staying but don't wan't them checking in or out on those days - only control at the moment is to block the dates.

 

Re 24hr; the 24hr should restart from when the guest or host sends a reply, the guest can always look elsewhere if they deem the process is taking to long.