CONFUSED by Instant Book

[Lucia152]

Even after 3 years of hosting, I'm so confused by Instant book. In the past when I had it on, guests could simply book a reservation without contacting me at all and I had no option to "Pre-Approve" or "Decline." As a result of too many problems with guests not reading the House Rules before booking, and being penalized by Airbnb despite the supposed "No Penalty" cancelation policy, I stopped using it, but I recently decided to try it again.

Now, it seems that whenever anyone "Instant Books" I get an "Inquiry" that I can either "Pre-Approve" or "Decline." So how is "Instant Book" any different from regular booking???

I'm not complaining, if this is REALLY now the policy. I'm just afraid of this being an abberation and receiving multiple requests for booking. To be specific, this is what I'm now facing:

Someone requested to book our home for the entire month of July. The guest has excellent recommendations. We exchanged a few messages and she said she could pay on Tuesday (it's Saturday today). OK, no problem -  I "Pre-Approved" her reservation and when I went to "Pre-Approve" it gave me the option to block those dates on the calendar, which is great, as I don't want to lose a month-long rental because someone Instant Books a 2-day stay.  But when I went to check the box that said "block" the dates, there was a message that said that guests won't be able to "instant book" those dates but they CAN send a reservation request. 

WTH??? If that happens, what do I do??? I have only 24 hours to either "Pre-Approve" or "Decline" a request. If I don't, I'm penalized -- my "Response Rate" is lowered and my listing won't appear as high in the search results. 

Worried about this scenario, I deciced that to be safe, I should just turn off Instant Book until Tuesday when my month-long renter will book (of course, doing this means my listing won't appear as high in the search results, but fine). Now I get a message that says that if I turn OFF Instant Book, I will have to respond to any request within 24 hours. Again, WHAT??? I  already have only 24 hours to respond WITH Instant Book ON!

The whole 24-hour thing is unfair to hosts because guests don't seem to realize the time pressure we hosts are under to respond to all inquiries. This is a problem with almost every booking. Besides the above scenario with my month-long renter, where a guest clearly does not understand how booking works, nor realize that when they book, their payment method is going to be charged right away, nor that I am under time limit to approve or decline (so really they should not book unless they are ready to pay), another scenario that happens frequently is that guests don't really read or observe the House Rules before Instant Booking. I don't have a Pet Policy set because it gives hosts only 2 OPTIONS, Allowed or Not (which is stupid because while I don't mind small dogs depending on the breed, I don't want large, smelly/oily or sheddy breeds) - BUT my rules clearly state "No pets unless approved prior to rental." Meaning they need to message me PRIOR to booking, but people will Instant Book and then in their Inquiry they will state that they have a dog (or two or three) and "is that OK?" 

Being aware of the 24-hour rule, I always message them back right away trying to get more information about the dog or dogs. Then I will sit waiting and the guest won't respond. So I am then forced to "Decline" the booking rather than exceeding the 24 hours and being penalized. Airbnb should more clearly explain to guests that there is a time limit to bookings on both sides!

Also, with "Pre-Approval" a guest is "encouraged" to respond within 24 hours but then it says that they can still Book AFTER 24 hours. So what happens in the case of multiple requests? 

Any insight into any of the above would be greatly appreciated - particularly whether all "Instant Bookings" now come as an "Inquiry" that a host can "Pre-Approve" or "Decline" - rather than as previously where the booking was simply completed automatically. 

Many thanks,

Lucia

[Sarah977]

@Lucia152   Aside from your issue with IB showing as On on your end, but not actually being available to guests-

Even if you use IB, some guests may choose to send an Inquiry or Booking Request (not just because they don't meet your IB criteria) instead. This could be because they have some questions they want the answer to before committing to a booking, or they may feel more comfortable having some dialogue with the host beforehand, for many reasons.

If it's an Inquiry, just a message response within 24 hours does not affect your stats, you don't need to either pre-approve or decline and you can ignore the proddings from Airbnb to pre-approve.

If it's a Booking Request, yes, you do have to Accept or Decline within 24 hours. So if the guest asks if they can bring their 3 heavily shedding 90 pound dogs, you answer, and if they don't get back to you within the 24 hours, you can message them again, saying you are going to Accept their request, as there are penalties for hosts for not checking one of the boxes within 24 hours, but that your acceptance is contingient on them NOT bringing the dogs. 

And in the first message you send, telling them, no, you can't accept the dogs, you can tell them that about having to Decline or Accept within 24 hours. Advise them to either withdraw the Request or agree not to bring the dogs, otherwise you will have to Accept, but without the dogs, their credit card will be immediately charged, and they will then have to cancel and wait to be refunded.

[Lucia152]

@Sarah977  thank you, this is brilliant! You have solved one of my problems!:

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And in the first message you send, telling them, no, you can't accept the dogs, you can tell them that about having to Decline or Accept within 24 hours. Advise them to either withdraw the Request or agree not to bring the dogs, otherwise you will have to Accept, but without the dogs, their credit card will be immediately charged, and they will then have to cancel and wait to be refunded.

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@Emilia16 - thank you for this clarification:

"if instant book is turned on, I believe guests will only have the option to 'book' unless they do not meet your IB requirements. There is no where to select 'request to book.' Inquiring is always available by clicking contact host."

I still have the mystery of why Instant Book is ON in my settings but disabled for Guests - even though I have had 0 Cancellations and 100% positive Acceptance and Response Rates in the past 365 days (see the 3 screenshots ATTACHED):

[Emilia42]

@Lucia152 , when you ask Airbnb to cancel a reservation because you feel uncomfortable that is done behind the scenes so it will not show up or affect your cancelation rate. This is when hosts are having problems with instant booking being shut off.

@Sarah977 , if instant book is turned on, I believe guests will only have the option to 'book' unless they do not meet your IB requirements. There is no where to select 'request to book.' Inquiring is always available by clicking contact host.

[Sarah977]

@Emilia42  I didn't know that. If the guest only has the option of an Inquiry if IB is turned on, that's actually better for IB hosts, as they don't have to Accept or Decline within 24 hour, only message back.

But it seems that Lucia's problem right now is that IB seems to have been turned off on the guest end for no apparent reason. So the host is getting both Requests and Inquiries, if I understand correctly.

[Emilia42]

@Sarah977, that is one of the reason why I love instant book... no racing against the clock to accept or decline 🙂

I am guessing that @Lucia152's issue is related to all the other posts I have read about in the last few months where Airbnb is in fact 'penalizing' hosts who use instant book by turning it off for a period of time.

[Lucia152]

@Emilia42 @Sarah977 actually according to an Airbnb Administrator, there IS a clock on booking requests (link to full article below) - is this only for NON-IB?:

"What happens to my acceptance rate if I answer a question rather than approve, pre-approve, or decline a booking request?

The short answer is this: If a guest sends you a booking request and you only answer a question, but do not approve or decline before the request times out, that counts as a decline.

Let’s dive in a little further. It’s important to note the difference between an inquiry and a booking request. An inquiry is just a message—perhaps asking to clarify something about amenities, dates, or House Rules. The guest may be interested in staying with you and may even ask something like: “I want to book your home; is it ok if I bring my dog?” This is not a booking request. It’s an inquiry. You can respond to an inquiry with an answer, a pre-approval, or by declining. Declining an inquiry signals to the guest that their needs aren’t a good fit for your space and encourages them to request another listing. But none of these actions directly affects your acceptance rate. If you pre-approve an inquiry and the guest books your space, that counts as an acceptance. If you pre-approve and they don’t book, it doesn’t have any effect on your acceptance rate. And if you decline an inquiry, your acceptance rate is not affected.

A booking request means that the guest is officially asking to book your listing and is waiting for you to accept or decline. As far as your acceptance rate goes, we only measure the final outcome of the booking request, and there are just three possible actions you can take: accept, decline, or let the request time out. If you let a request time out—even if you answer questions but take no action to approve or decline a request within 24 hours—that’s considered a decline."

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Understanding-Response-Rate-and-Acceptance-Rate/m...

[Sarah977]

@Lucia152  Yes, that's what I was trying to explain to you. There is definitely a clock on both Booking Requests and Inquiries- the difference is that on an Inquiry, you do not have to Preapprove or Decline, a message back to the guest within the 24 hours, without clicking on either of the 2 options, does not count against you at all, although Airbnb will prod you to preapprove. (which you can ignore, just like the price ips)

On a booking request you do have to click on Accept or Decline within 24 hours or you will get dinged on your response rate.

So it's important to pay attention as to whether it's an Inquiry or a Booking Request.

[Lucia152]

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@Emilia42 wrote:

@Lucia152 , when you ask Airbnb to cancel a reservation because you feel uncomfortable that is done behind the scenes so it will not show up or affect your cancelation rate. This is when hosts are having problems with instant booking being shut off.

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@Emilia42 actually there are a number of posts from people in the forums in which they have asked Airbnb to cancel for one of the "legitimate" reasons, but they have been penalized anyway... but again, I haven't canceled in the past year so this isn't my issue...

[David6]

@Sarah977  Is correct @Lucia152 

IB activated for several years now but if a guest instead sends through an enquiry as long as you respond within 24hrs you are not penalised. I never decline/approve just respond ASAP to their questions. If it’s an actual booking request then yes you have 24hrs to decline/accept. If you receive a booking request and it contravenes your ‘house rules’ (they want to bring dogs or extra guests) airbnb will usually allow you to cancel penalty free so there is no problem . I always telephone Airbnb and it’s sorted immediately. As you can see I have no hits on my response rate and I’ve cancelled about 8 IBs already just this year and I have not once been penalised. 

[Lucia152]

@David6 thanks for your response... actually there are a number of posts in the forums of people being penalized even though they canceled via Airbnb Customer Service for a "legitimate" reason like guests not following house rules... But my problem right now is that I have Instant Book turned ON but it has obviously been disabled by Airbnb because it doesn't show up in the search results and guest cannot IB even though I've had 0 Cancellations and 100% Acceptance and Response Ratings (see the 3 SCREENSHOTS below):

[David6]

@Lucia152 I always request customer services comfirm everything via email. To state that the booking has been cancelled penalty free. As you can see via my  screenshot. No impact at all. If there was a ‘hit’ suddenly showing on my account I’d have the documentation to support my case. 

I have read of other hosts having IB disabled and I would just make a quick call to CS to find out why?  

[Lucia152]

@David6 I cancelled once in 3 years and even though they said "no penalty," I did end up being penalized. I was able to resolve it eventually but it took far too much time.

Everyone is reporting that CS is no help at all in resolving the issue, but I will see if they can at least give me a "reason" and I'll report back.

However, after reading through the other threads about this, I really suspect some kind of technical glitch because none of the theories hold up for all of the cases. And Airbnb is transparent about their other policies. I just think they're understaffed with actual humans, and relying on too much automation to run a global business is causing some chaos.

[Lucia152]

@David6 how do you email Customer Service?

[David6]

@Lucia152 I’m always travelling so only ever Use my phone. Unfortunately there is no direct email to Airbnb but you have to go through the app or website to contact them . 

[Andrea4000]

Hi,

I definitely agree with you - the 24h time limit the host has to respond is really short - and especially if we consider the time difference (sometimes 12h !!). The host comes under pressure very often. Even though it responds immediately to demand, the timer goes by - so it would be very convenient that the "24H TIMER " took this into our account as an ACTIVITY and not a PASIVITY of the host.

I think, a very clear distinction should be made when the host will be penalized. There is a difference if he does not respond at all or answers and communicates!

Not every communication leads to a reservation - it depends on many factors. Just before the moment of booking, additional communication is a decisive factor. This applies in particular to non instant booking.

Many times, guests do not respond within the time limit to the additional questions I ask them, and that is why we are sometimes forced to reject demand - not because the property is not vacant, but because we have not received our answers - which are for us important.

Andrea