I have never been informed of this, I just noticed my bookings drop all of a sudden. I did a search for my listing and couldn't find it. When I called Air BnB the first time, they told me I must have accidentally turned the instant book filter on. Yeah right....
So today I called again after repeating a search for my listing and finding that instant book filter "ON" again.
Their customer service rep was totally unaware and said she'd forward this to the tech department...
Now that I'm reading these posts here, I'm thinking WTF?????
We're in the midst of a giant communications breakdown!
Either Air BnB is switching the default to show "instant book only"on purpose, and if that's the new policy, then their reps should be aware of that and simply tell us. Or some techie accidentally turned the default on while maintaining the website.....
Anyways, people who want to only see places that use instant booking should click that option themselves. That filter should NOT be on by default.