@Gail43. Good question! If a guest does not have the requirements that I have set for booking instantly, they can still send me a Reservation Request just like you get right now. My last two reservations were booked for newbies...people who have Government ID (which I believe Airbnb is now requiring for all guests) but do not have any reviews. I exchange messages with them to ascertain the reasons for their stay and point out anything they might need to know about my listing. I've accepted both...
The thing you need to know is that Airbnb will not offer instant booking to anyone that does not meet your requirements and even if they book instantly, you are able to cancel penalty free if you are not comfortable. Let's say you don't allow pets and someone books instantly and informs you they are bringing their dog. You can cancel this reservation penalty free.
Here are all the reasons you can cancel penalty free if you have IB turned on:
- Violating amenities or predefined House Rules.
- No pets allowed, but guest requests pet.
- Number of guests requested exceeds listing maximum.
- Communication issues.
- Unresponsive.
- Rude.
- Unreasonable requests.
- Suspect party or disturbance.
- Safety concerns.
- Previous bad experience with guest.
- Incomplete profile.
- Profile photo not of face.
- Third party booking (in which the host was NOT aware of this before the booking was confirmed).
This link also informs you of how liberal Airbnb is with IB cancellations:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/how-do-penalty-free-cancellations-work-for-instant-book-hos...
If you do not have IB set on your listing and you have the ability to communicate with the guest before confirming, you won't have the ability to cancel penalty free under these conditions.
In search results, it's a bit complicated. If a guest uses the IB filter in their search and they either are not logged in or do not meet my requirements, the results will not show my listing. If they are logged in and do meet my requirements then my listing will appear assuming my listing is otherwise available for their dates and number of guests. In regular searches where they have not set the IB filter to ON, my listing will appear as being able to book instantly if the guest meets my requirements and if not, then they must send as Reservation Request. Note that anyone, whether they meet my requirements or not, can send an Inquiry.
I wrote a long discussion about searches for Instant Book in this Community that also might be helpful to you.
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Tips-Tutorials/Searching-for-your-Instant-Book-Listing/m-p/38935...
I wrote this as a response to IB hosts who cannot find their listings, but it will give you a good idea how it works for guests.
Let me know if you have more questions!