I cannot find where to turn OFF "Instant Booking"

Here is also a link to send feedback. https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback I think we all need to send our feedback. I did mention the not reading rules over and over again to the rep. And it was just a reply like I was being silly and he said to just call them. He then said I could cancel three times if I was not comfortable with the guest. I think this was an Indian call center I got. I told him I shouldn’t have to use one of my cancellations because a guest didn’t read.

In the end, forced instant booking will only frustrate hosts who have issues with it, and guests will lose their booking fees for not reading, or they will lose part of the money paid. Guests will continue to abuse the extenuating circumstances policy, etc.

The other night I saw a Booking.com commercial that touted they offer free cancellation. Thats’ one of the reasons why so many reserve and you never hear from them again. They don’t read!

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I just checked, by making a new listing.

You can still turn it off, just select the bottom option.

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That is why I am using a channelmanager.
I close the dates in my booking system, and it automatically closes the dates in other systems.
Booking.com, Tiscover and some other big hotel systems have a direct connection, and close instantly.
AirBnB and Homeway use iCal and need some more time.

I think this new policy is forced by the whole AirBnB racism discussion going on in de US.
I would hate it if I were forced to take every guest that makes in inquiry. I would be forced to take off some of my listings, because at certain moments I would have an undesirable mix of guests in my house.

Two thoughts.
It seems to just be a test program and you are an existing host so maybe you’re exempt?

Yes, could be.

Maybe TS can post a screenshot of his/her screen.

I still would like to keep all my calendars open until the reservation is finalized. For example:

Let’s say guest send an inquiry through my website for a 7 day booking. I respond saying the dates are currently available, and attach the house notes/rules and departure checklist in case they would like to move forward with booking. Guest replies and says everything looks great, and asks for the contract and invoice for payment. So I send this to them because they say they are ready to book.

Well in the meantime (if I really want this particular booking) I have to close off booking.com dates to make sure a 2 night booking doesn’t instantly come through and there goes bye bye to my 7 night booking. Now I do let my 7 night inquiry know that I am on instant booking sites so they need to hurry. But sometimes I really close the dates off if it is an attractive booking.

The majority of the time the guest does go through and actually book. However, once in a while they never return a thing, and really weren’t even sure if they wanted to book - even though they claimed to want to book.

So now if Air moves to all instant booking, then it will be just another site to close off temporarily. And in the meantime if guest never follows through then I have lost potential bookings for having my calendar blocked.

But with Flipkey, VRBO, my website, and vacationhomerentals.com- I can still keep the calendar open and entertain inquiries/booking requests.

That is why I use a channelmaneger/booking system.

I “booking” can have 3 levels:

  1. Inquiry: I guest ask for a quote, I send the quote and all rules to them. But all sites remain open for booking.
  2. Reservation: A guest has given a written confirmation, that he wants the room, and has send all his data. But he has not made a downpayment yet. At this point all channels will automaticly close for this listing. The guest has 10 days to make the downpayment, he will get a reminder, and if payment is not done, the reservation will be canceled, and all channels open again.
  3. Booking: Downpayment received, booking is fixed. 14 days in before arrival they have to pay the full amount, if they do not pay they loose their downpayment, and their booking.

The good thing is that I do not have to turn down AirBnB requests for dates that are already being booked trough other sites. Declining requests from AirBnB is not good for your listing priority, if you want to have a high visibility you have to keep them to a minimum.
Superhost, Instant Book, Good reviews and a low rejection are all used to give you a higher spot.

I often accept bookings I do not want, because I know a guest will not book anyway, just to keep the acceptance score high. (I tell them in the conversation that it might not be the right place, they often want to visit the city by public transport, its only 80km away, but takes 2,5 hours by train to get there…)

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Did I read that correctly?? - Once guest confirms they are ready to book, you close off those dates on all the sites, and allow 10 days for payment??

You must be in a market that books very far in advance. My guests checking in tomorrow for 3 days just booked a couple of days ago.

The last guests who checked out on Monday (2 day reservation) booked the day before. Not all of my bookings are like this, but many of them are.

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Yeah most of my have been either same day bookings or within couple days. I do have a return customer thats booked next week and the week after but generally they’ve been last minute.

Why not having guests booking and paying directly on your website?

Paul - please bear with me. I am completely confused.

I may not be interpreting your statement correctly. If you tend to get many last minute bookings but are closing off the dates on all listing sites, then what happens if the guest ends up not following through?

I understand what you are saying about how it is bad to decline booking requests. This has happend to me a couple of times but I would prefer to get dinged rather than lose the entire weekend because I blocked off all dates and then someone didn’t pay.

Well for peak weekends that are booked far in advance I require check payment to save on the credit card fees. And I am not susceptible to a chargeback with a check, and can do as I please with the damage deposit. I also require check for peak holiday weeks that book far in advance too.

My minimum night stay will change often depending on the bookings that come through.
And my site is not sophisticated enough to do any of this.

Also, I need guests to confirm the total number of guests. I still get many groups that try to book and don’t count very young ones as people. I always ask guest now to list all ages of infants/children when I reply to their inquiry/request. Sometimes they go over when they end up listing all ages. So I would hate for them to have booked and then I have to refund, etc. and they blocked my calendar.

And since guests don’t read I also have to confirm for winter resevations that they understand they will need 4 wheel drive if it is snowy/icy. And the waterfall does not run after weather turns cold. Some people book just because they were drawn to the waterfall.

Another thing is I need them to understand there are surveillance cameras on the property. One person backed out because he was not comfortable with this. A few people have mentioned a comment that it was a bit creepy. But they went ahead with the reservation.

I also need people to confirm they completely understand the cancellation policy.

Yes, my main market books months ahead, that is where the real money is made. I am already booked completely trough until the first week of september (exept for that one strange week in july), and christmas/newyear 2 weeks are also fully booked, I also have bookings for January, February and March already.

AirBnB is just for filling gaps and low season, and limited to 6 months ahead with a strict policy.

I have very few last minute bookings trough my normal channels, and if I have them, they will have to pay immediately trough Paypal or CreditCard. But most of my last minute bookings come trough AirBnB because that is my gap filler.

And since AirBnB is for filling my gaps, I want to keep my listing as high up as possible.

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I like these kinds of guests! I have such a commitment-phobia, I love having to plan in advance no more than a week or two! However, I do frequently get guests who book way ahead of time. One was for a motorcycle rally, one was for 4th July, and one lady in August who is going to be in a bike race and needs to be close to where it’s starting the next morning.
She is taking the bus up from NYC, and the nearest bus drop off is 14 miles away, but she told me "It looks like a nice bike ride to your house!

You can’t turn it OFF if you are part of Airbnbs “experiment”.

I strongly discourage anyone to turn on instant book. Airbnb is “experimenting” with a new feature that takes control away from hosts and does not allow one to turn on or off instant book. As a result I have been the victim of fraud by some new airbnb guests from China. They claim there is a “hair on the sheet” and request refunds. This has happened 6 times for me (I have an excellent housekeeper who now uses a lint roller on all the beds, I also check myself and have never found a hair). I went to turn off instant book so I could better screen my guests, but because I am part of this experiment, I no longer have this control. I have actually “snoozed” my listing until this control is given back to me. Frankly after over 2 years of being an airbnb host I do not feel that the company does not properly prioritize host interests.

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I am a new host and couldn’t un-do IB UNTIL… I went into my iPhone app and was able to get if off there (a secret way to get it off there). While I couldn’t do it on the computer or even my iPad app, it did let me do it on my iPhone. My IB lightning bolt disappeared! Yeah. Two weeks later, it is still off.

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Are you willing to give us step by step instructions on how you found this in the iPhone app? I have looked high and low with no success.

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It was under Edit Listing. Just keep scrolling down until you find it.

It just isn’t there… too bad. I got excited!

Don’t you have this?