Instant Book - Misleading to Hosts

[Camilla55]

So what is the point of allowing hosts to ask extra questions as part of the Instant Book process, if AirBnB doesn't force the guests to answer?  We actually get far worse profiles requesting to book than when we had instand book off.

Secondly, the link below is completely misleading.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/how-do-penalty-free-cancellations-work-for-instant-book-hos...

It states 'Unlimited Cancellations' with various reasons.  However, having cancelled 2 instant bookings for these reasons (one was a clear scam and the other had zero information in their profile and didn't even send a message, or answer our questions), I get a message that I only have 1 left this year.  It clearly states on the above link that the '3 cancellations per year' is where your calendar should have been blocked.

Clearly it's better to leave this option switched off and have proper control over who books.

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Camilla55 Maybe instant booking didnt work well for you but it was and still works perfectly for me. I dont like to receive thousands of questions from potential guests who are just comparing listings on the network instead of booking. The instant booking options has allowed me to host many people who booked at once without any drama or question actually most of my guests booked instantly which i really appreciate. I would advice you to use instant booking option if you are willing to host short term guests if thats not the case you better switch it off. Good luck and happy hosting!!!

[Liz121]

Why in the wordl would you respond to her problem like this?  Did Airbnb ask you to respond to problems?  Do you work for Airbnb as a "fake responder to problems posted in their forum"?  This modus operandi is not helpful to hosts and we don't appreciate the people who were put up to responding or asked by Airbnb to respond to issues they have no intention of doing anything about just to make it seem like others dont'have the same or any problems with Airbnb.  Not helpful and this too is miseleading.

[Kelly149]

@Camilla55 If you go back and look at the all IB questions post from Lizzie you will see that this is a known issue. What the policy should say is “customer service may cancel as many IB reservations as they agree with you are a problem”. But that doesn’t sound as sunny as Unlimited. 

So you could cancel more than 3 IF you get CS on the phone & they agree that your uncomfortable-ness is acceptable 

[Camilla55]

@Kelly149Thanks for the comment.  It's sort of good to know it's a known issue.  Considering it's almost impossible to get hold of any CS rep, I don't really see that as an option.  Will just switch IB off after the next cancellation to avoid the whole situation, as I don't want to run into a situatuin where CS are the ones deciding if it's OKto cancel either.

[Vivien13]

I was told specifically that I have up to 3 cancellations per year.

[Kelly149]

@Camilla55 I also have added the extra questions— as of yet haven’t had a guest answer them and I’ve flat out asked if they were shown the question (cut/pasted into message thread) and haven’t gotten an answer to that question either. 

Would love to know if that feature is at all operational and you’re right, an actual answer before proceeding past would be very helpful