Contemplating instant book because of search boost

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I am doing some market research in my area and despite my Superhost status my listing is buried deep in the search results. I’m guessing its because I have instant book off. The reason why I always left it off is mainly because:

a) I prefer to communicate with a guest prior to booking them.
B) Although I do keep my calendar always up to date, on certain dates I can’t know for certain that I will be available for checking in guests due to my work schedule. Usually if someone sends me a booking request I let them know that for that day check in will be after a certain time. Only then if they agree I accept their booking.

I’ve rarely dismissed a booking request however I had some potential guests who wanted to bring children and babies and my listing is not suitable for them due to safety reasons.

Does it make sens to switch on instant book just for the search boost? What is your take on instant book?

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We have had instant book active for over a year (hosting since 2013) and are quite happy with it.

Like yourself we found we were actually not turning away any enquiries and have found that there really is no way to predict what a guest will be like in advance.

The only enquriries we turn away are those looking for a discount - and they obviously don’t instant book.

You can cancel an Instant Book with no penalty if you are uncomfortable with the guest but we have never had to do this.

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I’ve used IB for a long time now and I can honestly say I haven’t noticed any decline in quality of guests. BUT it all depends on what kind of listing you have. I’m a live-in host so I am here to sort out any infractions etc straightaway. If it’s a precious family home that you rent out occasionally, I’d say no way to IB. If it’s a standard STR then why not do IB?

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@travellinbug - addressing your IB worry and children: we have IB on but indicate we are not suitable for children. I received a Reservation Request from someone with children that wanted to stay - they told me they could not IB because they had children in their group

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Instant book has been great for me, but I did have to get a lock box, and put heavy faith in people being good eggs. Mostly of my experiences have been fabulous. However, if you feel more comfortable having a conversation with your guests first, then just stay with that. It’s your home, you should feel comfortable.

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Instant booking brought me many good guests but there were also a really terrible guest who used instant book to make a last minute booking at my place. I would have approved her request anyway if she booked through sending a request first. So it is not instant book’s faulty.

But I do feel Airbnb is starting to give us less benefits as more hosts are on instant book now. We used to have 3 penalty free cancellation each year, but now it says you can cancel for free if the instant booked guest breaks your house rule. I believe this is useless, hosts can cancel any guest who breaks the house rule, no matter which way the guest used to book.

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I think the issue is more with the revised search.
If you go to a big city, it shows you 100 listings, when there are 10,000 listings. It is only if you use the map and zoom into a specific part that you get to see all the listings.
This new way of search has reduced my bookings by probably 80%.
I have opened instant book and it has helped a tiny bit, but not enough.

With regards to does instant book help.
The other thing is that depending on your browser or app, it defaults to instant book ON, and you have to notice it, and manually click it OFF.
If you don’t have 10,000 listings in your area, then turning on instant book may work for you. When you have the instant book filter on, and there are only 8 listings available, I think people usually go - hm, only 8 in this area, and start looking at the criteria, notice instant book is on and click it off, then see there are really 100 listings.

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I’m a big fan of instant book. It saves me time and I have good guests. I’ve had it on so long that I can’t say if there is any difference with guests. There are many factors that go into search placement not just having IB. Read the threads here on the forum about the topic if you aren’t aware of what these factors are. The only problem I see is your limitations on checking in due to your work schedule.

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I’ve used IB for a year or so now. I’ve noticed no difference in the quality of guests.

Improved search results makes it worthwhile, along with the ability to require Gov’t ID.

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You can ask your same questions you do pre booking now post IB. If you don’t like the answers you are fee to cancel. Assuming they are rational

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You get three penalty free declines a year if you use Instant Book. I’ve been doing this for three years and have never even used one.

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@lahope This is not accurate. You now get an unlimited, with caveats about why.

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Lol. Yes it is smtucker. You have three without having to give a reason. Beyond that it is up to Air

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@lahope. Could you show me where in the current TOS this is the current policy? I thought they pulled this and changed it to unlimited if you are “uncomfortable” or they have “broken House Rules.”

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