When you ‘rate’ the guest during the review process, there is a point blank question ‘would you recommend’ them to other hosts, if you select the thumbs down, they would not be able to instant book if you have the setting. However, I bet @jackulas is right that is the have more ‘thumbs up’ than ‘thumbs down’ then they would probably be allowed.
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That’s what I am trying to find out about. Working on submitting the question to the Air customer service team. Since it’s not urgent it may take some doing to get an answer.
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Hi Kirsty Jane,
We have always had Instant Book. We have not found that our Instant Book guests are any more problematic than our non Instant Book guests. In fact, I think the Instant Book guests may be easier because the persnickety guests won’t Instant Book as they have questions. A lot of our guests have commented that one of the reasons they chose our listing is that we have Instant Book. This is especially helpful for travelers who need someplace to stay soon and don’t have time to wait to be approved.
Jackulas, I don’t think you will like Instant Book as Southeast Asians and obese people are allowed to Instant Book.
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Where are you getting that I have a problem with southeast Asians? Some of my most stellar guests have been Korean and Vietnamese.
So far I haven’t had any obese guests. If someone looks large enough to break the bed frame, I can always use a free cancellation. Of course, then there goes my super host status. Oh well.
You have complained that Southeast Asians splash water in your bathroom. Most of our guests have been from mainland China and none of them have splashed water in our bathroom.
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I’m going to let this go, because it’s off topic.
I read the below from self-proclaimed ‘AirBnB consultant’ Evian Gutman on Quora:
“Who Can Book: Instant Book hosts have the option of specifying whether anyone in the Airbnb community can book, or only guests recommended by other hosts. Recommended guests need to have received only “thumbs up” reviews from other hosts.”
Not sure of his credibility, but it seems to suggest a single thumbs down would invalidate a potential guest as ‘recommended.’ The research continues…
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When you review a guest, the very first question you get is “would you recommend this guest”, and you click on thumbs up or down.
I’d shoot for a written reply from Airbnb. I suppose I could write and ask them too. Maybe multiple people asking the same question will be more likely to get a response.
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Agreed. Let’s get this settled!
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I recently remodeled the front of my house to put a separate entrance. I put a digital code deadbolt on the entrance from the outside and a lock on the door from the guest room into the house. When I am not home I lock the door into the house. I now feel safe to instant book and have people checking in when I’m not home (or after I’ve gone to bed.) I also put a detailed guest guide so late check ins can hopefully manage on their own until I greet them in the morning. I add these details because I recall your post about having to give a bad review to the overly needy guest who woke you up. Depending on your set up maybe you can make some modifications to your home that will make it more pleasant for you to deal with instant book. I’ve had over 100 guests since I began 2 years ago and about 20 instant bookings since Feb. when the remodel was completed. I’ve had no problems with instant book guests and I have, no doubt gotten additional last minute bookings. I have the setting where a guest must have a prior review but I’ve never had problems with a first time guest either. However, I don’t live in a tourist area, I live in a town where most people are just stopping for the evening on a road trip.
And the remodel added a bathroom so they no longer HAVE to come in my house. I make it clear in the listing that the rest of the house is not always available, please let me know if it’s use is needed, etc. I did this primarily because I also board dogs in my home and I need to keep them safe.
Please let me know what they get back to you with
Screenshot from my dashboard:
As you can see we have the first option checked. I’ve had lots of first-timers with no reviews and they’ve been great. We started using IB after about a month. Because I’m actually quite hopeless at evaluating guests from their profile, then I’ve found the quality of guests hasn’t changed at all.
In fact, when I think about it my less-than-ideal guests were all before IB and I approved them!
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Thanks! This is all very encouraging information. I really want to attract more experienced Air users, because they have always been my best guest. They get how the sharing economy works, are more self-reliant, respectful and generally less awkward to have around. We will see how it goes.
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For the record, Instant Book does not enthuse me. Among other things, Airbnb doesn’t even have a local (India) number to call, as far as I can discover. And they seem unreliable enough, even for people in the USA. I suspect if I depended on them, I would have problems.
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Wait… I thought Instant Book meant they didn’t need your approval?
He means that if you set it to ‘only recommended guest can instant book’ that those who don’t have positive reviews on their profiles still must get active approval from you to book. That is the setting I am trying out. 
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Ok… I am wondering if I should give it a try too…please note my kicking and screaming as I get dragged into it! 
It is really NOT THAT BAD!!! We use, and love, IB. Actual confirmed reservations without the annoying ‘are these days available? How much? Blah blah blah’
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When you sign up for Instant Book, they give you three free cancellations with no cost, automatic review, loss of Super Host status, etc. So, you can do some vetting after the fact. If something is off about them, there is an option to cancel them with the reason of, “I do not feel comfortable with this guest.”
So, if you want to try it and get a bad apple, you can cancel them. Also, if you happen to get three bad apples and have to brush them off, then you can just turn Instant Book off until the anniversary of the first cancellation, at which time your allowable refusals will be replenished.
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