Instant booking hosting error

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Hi All, has anyone experienced an error with the Instant book feature not working?

We Have "Instant book" on on both our listings yet we do not appear in searched where the Instant book filter is on.

And on our listings the "Request to Book" button shows.

We have tried turning Instant book on and off but still does not work. Instant booking has worked for us up until now, so not sure why it would not be working anymore, we keep our calendars up to date on a daily basis.

We have also reported the problem to Airbnb on both the App and Twitter and all we get told is to be patient they are looking into the error.

But 2 weeks later no resolution or feedback from Airbnb.

Meanwhile we are not appearing in searches, less people are viewing our listings and we have very few bookings at peak season in our area.

Dont know what to do to fix the error or get Airbnb to priortise our case.

[Emiel1]

@Tish-And-Paddy0

Are you (as a guest) allowed to use Instant Book ? In other words: maybe the listing does not give you IB available, because you are (as a guest) not entitled to use it.

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Hi Emiel Yes as a guest we are, and have in the past booked accommodation using IB. IB used to be available on our listings up until 2 weeks ago then suddenly no more. And any enquiries we get for accommodation come as request and not IB the way they used to.

[Kenneth12]

Are you using an account other than your own,  to test?   (Does that account meet your IB requirements)?

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Yes as a guest we are, and have in the past booked accommodation using IB. IB used to be available on our listings up until a few weeks ago then suddenly no more. And any enquiries we get for accommodation come as request and not IB the way they used to.

I see now that when we get requests to book the following text is in the email from Airbnb:

xxx wants to book your place

Why am I seeing this request?

We sometimes require hosts to accept a reservation request even when they have Instant Book turned on. You’re most likely to see this when you haven’t updated your calendar in a while or you’ve recently canceled a reservation.

Accept Ashraf’s request if you’re ready to get booked.

I update our calendars on a daily basis so it cant be that.

We did however cancel a booking about a month ago as it was a 3rd party booking and the person booking was not even prepared to share the people that were coming to stays names or contact details. Maybe that is why our IB no longer works. I have asked Airbnb help if this is the case and they have been unable to assist.

[Jeff158]

BINGO I thought it sounded familiar @Tish-And-Paddy0 , have a read of these 2 posts, both had instant booking switched off after cancelled bookings.

This was one solution: You must change prices in your calendar every 24 hours until the computers kick out this problem. It took us 18 days.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Instant-Book-feature-technical-glitch/m-p/870645#M186153

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/hidden-fines-for-host-when-guest-uses-48-hour-grace-peri...

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Thanks Jeff I will give that a try. Will send feedback as well.

[Sally221]

That solution might work for some people but It hasn't worked for all of us whose Instant book no longer functions- triggered perhaps by a legitimaye cancellation performed by Airbnb or for some other random reason- this is not the only thread addressing this issue and dollars to doughnuts there are many other hosts out there wondering what is going on , Sally  (fellow victim)

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Sally, I am wondering now as I am on my calendars every day, not necessarily changing prices, but certainly editing dates, block, unblock etc to show activity. Then yesterday I got told that we are not even meeting basic requirements and are threatened with being delisted. And why? Because Airbnb cancelled a 3rd party booking on our behalf and because we declined a request to book from an individual whose profile stated 'I will trash your place if I am mistreated' who then proceeded to tell me it was a joke and I am too sensitive! So begs the question why even allow the option to Accept or Decline if decline isn't really an option and the threat of being delisted hangs over our heads! We are now forced to accept every booking that comes to get our stats up and meet Airbnb basic requirements. Superhost and 51 - 5star reviews on our other listing clearly counts for nothing. I despair! Do I need to move to another listing company?!

[Jay374]

Exact same issue here, any updates on being relisted in IB searches?

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Hi Jay Airbnb help desk eventually solved the problem for us.

This is what they said they did:

 "seems that updating your individual prices and availability in each of your listings calendar is what has helped in your case. In other words, the action is to select a date manually in the calendar and change the price, making sure to save the changes. You can then change it back to the initial value to undo the change. Taking the same action with blocking, saving and unblocking the selected dates in the calendar is the additional step worth taking. Unfortunately we don't have enough data to know if this troubleshooting will help in every case, but it's definitely worth trying."

Hope that helps. I think you may have to do it with your entire calendar open days.

Let us know if it works for you.

Tish

[Cl4]

I have the same problem here, anyone got the solution ?

[Tish-And-Paddy0]

Did you try what I suggested to Jay earlier on in this conversation? It worked for us.

[Cl4]

 Hi Tish And Paddy , Yes I did it this two week still not yet solve the problem 😞