Airbnb favors Instant Book listings by making "instant book" the default setting when guests search

[David631]

When you do a search for a place to stay in a city and put in the dates, by default, it only shows you the listings that are "instant book".  That means none of the other listings are showing at all, so all of my listings are not being shown to potential renters.   People who have never used airbnb, will not know how to change the filter, so won't be able to see the broader range of listings.  Thus, it seems airbnb is favoring hosts with instant booking, which I believe to be unfair. 

Also, I believe hosts that get to know their guests prior to their booking provide guests better customer service.  They also do their neighbors a favor, by more carefully vetting guests through pre-booking conversations and ensuring guests understand the rules. Please change this unfair policy of favoring instant book listings over other listings that require host contact.

[Diane114]

Thanks for this conversation. I'm a new host,  was excited to get bookings immediately upon listing then . . . nada! I discovered my area also has IB automatically turned on. It takes 3 clicks for a user to turn it off -- click on the tab, click on the radio button, then "Apply" the change. Not so intuitive and takes time and thought. Many people won't bother.

My space is truly handicapped accessible (roll in shower, ADA sink, ramp to entrance) but even filtering on wheelchair accessible doesn't bypass the IB default. Guests are directed to higher-priced choices under the filter (some with bathtubs!). So I was annoyed at this push to IB.

Furthermore, the ability to exchange emails I felt helped me decline one request from someone who 1) asked questions that were already answered in the listing and 2) was asking for a friend or family member, not themselves. I've since had my gut misgivings about that guest confirmed by reading about "red flags" from you experienced hosts. I would sure like to get a little more experience before turning on IB.

I have a financial background, so I just assumed Airbnb was trying to accelerate their revenue receipts by favoring IB. Hey, they're a for profit company, so what can ya do? Then I did some more reading.

The IB emphasis is enumerated as one of Airbnb's responses to a disturbing statistical (and some documented) racial discrimination in short term rentals. I'm glad Airbnb is addressing this and that they've engaged former AG Eric Holder for advice.

BUT, I agree with some other analyses I've read about one way to approach this problem -- remove guest and host photos. You could still be required to submit a photo to Airbnb -- so Airbnb could do its photo matching behind the scenes as part of their security. Just don't include photos in the reservation process. Why not start there? I can understand the concern of those who share rooms in their home (not an investment or separate property) in wanting to screen guests. All savvy landlords of long term rentals screen their tenants.

No one should be discriminated against. Hosts who are sharing their own homes (again, not those arbitraging long term rental and investment property revenues -- that's a different debate) can't afford to do credit/background checks, and don't have the  staffing and security infrastructure of a hotel to protect themselves. I haven't seen statistics on problems or crimes for IB vs. non-IB Airbnb properties. That would be helpful. There needs to be a solution that recognizes the legitimate needs of all parties.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Diane114

Valid points there, but as hosts we need to do our own safety measures and one of those would be to match them against their profile photo.  The matching airbnb does today is far from foolproof !

Last month I had a booking from someone where absolutely nothing added up so I asked airbnb to cancel on the "not comfortable with guest" grounds.  I reported the profile, but it is still there.

She came across as fully verified with profile photo belonging to a Belorussian actress (thank you google), name in cyrillic letters (later confirmed not to be her name), local mobile number (red flag), but claiming to be arriving from Poland.  After cancelling she already had my details like full address and phone number, so she started texting me. This is how I got her real name.  No communication at all through the platform - making me suspect someone else held the account and was booking on her behalf.

[Mary-Ann0]

@Rachel665, 

Almost the exact same thing happened to me the day after Christmas 1916 at midnight.  I have a long term place and also a 1 person only place; it has one single bed. I had clear rules posted and state 1 person only clearly couple of times on my listing. I had just, that very day, switched to instant book.  Airbnb was helping this guest because a host canceled on her last minute and found my place for this woman. My rules are the guest must read listing and the rules before they reserve, that’s my rules but did the guest do that? No.

I stayed up all night getting the place freshened up and stocked up (it has a kitchen and bath) then the very next morning the day she is supposed to arrive the guest messaged me and said “Oh bye-the-way hope you don’t mind if my husband comes too, he made the reservation and did not notice it was 1 person only”.  I was livid and called Airbnb and made it clear this was not acceptable to me.

They canceled her for me and I didn’t get penalized.  I turned off instant book but that is the last guest I have ever had from Airbnb. I have Home away now, have good reviews too. Three months ago I tried craigslist again and have a wonderful person in there now. 

[Lizzie]

Hello @David631, @Diane114, @Maria532, @Alan107, @Shayna3, @Victoria57, @Blagoje0, @Melanie115, @Maria532, @Cathy109, @Mary-Ann0, @Deepak2, @Robert-And-This-Is-Janis0, @Dave68, @Rich24, @Marc--Les-and-Toni0, @Sandra126, @Bob43, @Jillie1, @Andrew90, @Dede0, @JohnandLana0, @Kelly36, @Jim-and-Marcia0, @Dodie0, @Sue172, @JohnandLana0, @Craig64, @Zacharias0, @Don40, @Rosaleen3, @Jude7, @Rosaleen3, @Sunny28, @Hans--Sandra-and-Son0, @Jean119, @Natalia75, @Kelly36, @Jovanni-and-Natasha0, @Michael570, @Steven112, @Jeff69, @Mike215, @Mariya2, @Loretta2, @Deanne11, @Heather114, @Karin69, @Sharise0, @Rachel194, @Maureen61,

Sorry to those who have already seen this post. For those of you who haven't, as I have seen some of you have questions regarding Instant Book here, I just wanted to highlight a recent post we have shared here in the Community Center: Answers to your top Instant Book Questions.

I hope you find this helpful.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Dede0]

@Lizzie Thanks for including me. I'm not as active here as I used to be because I've gotten busier in other ways. I'd like to put more time into the forum, but just don't have the time.

With respect to Instant Book -- even though I'm still opposed to it being *forced* on people, we do sometimes use it ourselves.. When we first open a distant month (3-5 months out), we turn off IB, so that we can personally check/approve the potential guests. (With zero racial, sexual-orientation, etc, aspects considered, but just safety, reliability, etc. We are both mixed race and mixed sexual-orientation ourselves...) After most of the new period gets booked, we turn on IB. With the restrictive requirements (Gov't ID, Host recommendations), of course.  By the way, there are currently flaws in the way that that's coded and implemented. The gov't ID requirement doesn't affect what listings that non-logged-in users see, but the host-recommended requirement does. Either both should or neither should, since the platform doesn't know *either* when a user isn't logged in. I entered this as a bug/recommendation several months ago. No respose and no change.

[Melanie115]

Not surprising: no response. They don't care.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Melanie115,

Nice to meet you. Aw I am sorry to hear your feelings here. I can tell you this really isn't the case. 

If you have any ideas on things that you think could help to make improvements please do share them here in the Community Center, it would be great to hear them. 

I look forward to speaking with you again.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Lizzie]

Hello @Dede0,

It is lovely to hear from you and to hear that things are going so well for you. It is really nice to see you back in the CC. I hope you are also finding time to go on some nice trips and relax too. 🙂 

It is great to hear how you use IB and how you find it works best for you, thanks for sharing this. This might be a good option for other hosts too.

Aw you raise a interesting point about the gov't ID requirement, it sounds like a good spot. In you opinion, I know you mention there should be a consistency here, but how do you think this should work?

Thanks so much,

Lizzie

[Cathy-and-Ed0]

We don't use Instant Book for very good reasons.  Having been a Host for three years, and a SuperHost since they started it.  Have 140 postive reviews with Five ***** ratings.  Now, I am not getting ANY booking request.  I have one booking (New Year's) and that is from a previous guest.  Just keep getting notices that I could get 257% more views if I would only sign up for IB and drop my prices.

I will give them a little more time to realize this mistake, then I will shut down.

[Maureen61]

My experience is the same. Fewer bookings and inquiries, constant pressure to install IB or lower my prices. I took my space off Airbnb for the slow season and rented it to a month-to-month renter. I may try one more year during the busier summer season, but more and more of us who do a really good job hosting  and share our own homes, are not going to find Airbnb working for them if it is turning into a hotel substitute business where the hosts are simply free-lance, low cost and low regulation substitutes for hotels.

[Rachel665]

With Instant Book, I had a guest auto-book without reading requirements and in order to cancel it had to be opened up as a "case for review" (ridiculous and time-consuming!). My space is only large enough for 1 person (maximum allowable selection on my booking page) but in the message she said "my boyfriend and I are arriving!" She clearly did not read the requirements, nor did she select "2 guests" in her search. 

The only reason I had Instant Book turned on in the first place was so that I COULD READ PRIOR REVIEWS. I view this as tantamount to Airbnb *blackmailing* hosts to use Instant Book (clearly this results in larger revenue for them). Nonetheless, I reluctantly turned it on due to the stated promise that I could "cancel if I ever felt uncomfortable".

THUS, I used the "not comfortable with this booking option" in an attempt to cancel this reservation without penalty but it said I had to CALL Airbnb to cancel. It escalated into a "CASE" and I had to argue for my right not to get penalties. The whole process took about 2 hours at 1am. 

I have since turned Instant Book off to avoid this tiresome circus act in the future, but now I CANNOT see guests' PRIOR REVIEWS, which I view as a huge safety concern. I've written to Airbnb about this but I'm sure they won't do anything..

It might require some type of petition to allow all hosts (not just Instant Book hosts) the right to see prior guests reviews. (I'm pretty sure this used to be the case?) I'm sure it will eventually result in lawsuit when someone's property is damage or the host is harmed and they will only change it then. But in the meantime, I am going to keep suggesting this to them in all of my communications with them. 

AIRBNB PLEASE ADDRESS THIS 

[Maureen61]

I don't do Instant Book for the same reasons you have...my listing is a bit complicated and I send a confirmation email for every booking request just to be sure they actually read my listing. The folks who just looked at the picture and booked without reading, then need to back out and because I do this before accepting a booking, it is an easy process. I would say about 25-30% of my reservation requests are from people who didn't fully read my listing.

I CAN however, see prior reviews of guests when I accept. I would be OUTRAGED if I could not screen my guests this way and I would probably quit Airbnb. Not sure why you can't see this and I can even though I also will not use Instant Book.

[Donna119]

Yes it can get complicated to cancel. If Airbnb makes it too difficult for hosts, its only a matter of time before another similar option will be available to hosts and we will change.  

[Jude7]

Hi @Rachel665,

As a host who would never use Instant Book, I can see the Reviews of my guests. What I cannot see, which I believe those who use Instant Book CAN see - are the actual star ratings of my guests. 

But - when I read glowing reviews, the actual stars to me are irrelevant. I would much rather keep control over who rents my space. 

Jude

[Alex939]

@Jude7 some info for you: I use IB and I can only see the reviews of my guest (in case they have) and I'm not able to see star ratings of my guests. I believe those stars are invisible for us hosts. 

So that's the question - where we can see star ratings and thumbs up/down of our guest to come?