Instant book changed again

21

Oopsie! I corrected the mistake in the initial post. Thanks!

22

I use Airbnb’s API, which matches indeed what you see in the source code of the Manage your listing page (Kaboom! Totally forgot there is actually a website behind Airbnb.com! :sweat_smile:). The “instant_booking_visibility” is a field that exists in the API which is similar to what the website has with the “who can book” section.

On my listing page, where I have the plain “Recommended by hosts”, this is the input field I have:

<input id=“who-can-book-trust-recommended” type=“checkbox” value=“2”

If hosts with another wording have a different value or input id (seeing your comment, it seems at least the id part is the same), then there is something different going on the client side.

In any case, the only thing that can be inferred from this is that two hosts with different apparent option are in fact having the exact same option. However, just want to point out that nobody really know what any option mean. I believe the new terminology might just be a more detailed description of what is going on… although it is indeed not quite precise enough.

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23

My screens look different. Furthermore, when I check “Recommendation for other Hosts” and reload the page, that checkmark is missing. There is nothing I can do to make this preference stick. I only wish I had noticed when that checkmark went away so I could describe it better to the reps at AirBNB.

After reload

24

How is this screen different that the second one the OP posted and the one Lucy R posted. Is it only that you can’t turn off the IB at all?

25

I am missing the option of “Guests who meet AirBNB requirements” as well. The point is that there is some boolean that determines which screen you have access to, and which features. Man I wish I could access that!

26

So that’s weird that they force you to have it but then don’t offer the option to reduce the number of requirements to just “airbnb requirements.”

27

How is it lowering its standards?? Negative means just that: “negative”.
If a guest got “thumb up” it means not negative, if not means negative

28

That 4 1/2 stars thing that used to be on the IB page has disappeared. Now it says

Guests who meet Airbnb’s requirements, and also have:
ďżź Provided a government-issued ID
ďżź Recommendation from other hosts

29

It is lowering because 4,5-5 start is better, than ‘not negative’

Also, I can only give a thumb up or down in general.
I do not have thumbs for cleanliness, communication and observance of house rules.

So what is a negative rating based on stars?

30

I dont think its lowering though. It gives more options to hosts to decide.Then if a guests did not get 5* always he would be rejected, though he might be perfectly ok guest for especially open minded host

31

They are clearly still playing with that screen and collecting the results of their A/B testing. I hope Airbnb will listen to hosts who want things to be more consensual.

32

They will not get rejected, they just do not get the instant book option.
So they still get the option to make a reservation request and the host still gets to option to accept.

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33

O i see, i did not get that part, thanks

34

Hello Pierre,

Your service looks great, I can’t wait to give it a test drive.

I was wondering how you address the concern of Airbnb not having a public API? If they make changes on their end, will that cause an interruption in service for me? How can you guarantee me (a potential customer) you can adapt to their changing environment?

Thanks in advance…

35

Thanks Maragaret for your question.

Because they haven’t in the past years since Airbnb has an API.
Because that would require effectively cutting Airbnb from the biggest share of their customers.

Airbnb has a public API. The issue is that it is not documented and requires work and time to retro-engineer and figure how it works. I believe I did that quite comprehensively.

All users of Airbnb use that API, whether on the Web or on mobile. Any radical change in the API would mean changing Airbnb’s websites (not so problematic: Airbnb has direct control over its website) and mobile (much, much more problematic: Airbnb does’t have control on all versions of devices in the wild, and mobile is the media on which users interact first and foremost with Airbnb).

Airbnb actually maintains several versions of the same functions to match their evolving needs, but they don’t make the old part unavailable. There is a v1, there is a v2, and the v2 is evolving too, but the v1 has not been discontinued since 2008-2009. They don’t fix something that is not broken. I believe they have plenty of work on fixing what is.

In addition: they gave licences to big vacation rental software http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/airbnb-10-partnerships/ (but they are only focused on distribution for vacation rentals, not on improving the lives of Airbnb hosts). I guess Airbnb is contractually obligated to maintain the API to avoid additional integration costs.

Technically, commercially, Airbnb is tied to its API. So I sleep very well at night.

If they ever do something with their API, that is going to be giving access to its documentation, or design a special API with features and functions designed for developers. I will be the first in line, with the likes of literally every other start-up.

In spite of this long answer, I wouldn’t want to hijack this thread with my business. I invite you to direct your questions on this thread: http://www.airhostsforum.com/t/auto-messaging-for-airbnb-hosts-market-reports-free-waffles/7238/9

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36

Thank you for the quick response!

I’ve also heard there is an “unofficial” API…I remember seeing a previous thread about it. Not sure how dependable an unofficial version would be, but then again, I’m no programmer :slight_smile:

37

If I may be witty, your question is basically the equivalent of : “What if I buy a house, and then the city destroys the road overnight ?” The API is basically as important as an infrastructure as a road in a city.

There is only one API, and it is available on https://api.airbnb.com. It is is the only domain name declared by Airbnb for this type of usage.

For example, here is the profile page of Brian Chesky: https://api.airbnb.com/v2/users/3?client_id=3092nxybyb0otqw18e8nh5nty&_format=v1_legacy_show

The version Smartbnb uses is a bit more sophisticated, but that is basically what it is.

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38

That is actually a great analogy!

But when I click on the link you post, it just brings me to a bunch of words with no pictures or formatting or anything. Am I missing something?

How do do you know what client ID to use if they don’t publicly make the API available. So confused… :confused:

Thanks for your patience, I’m just trying to understand.

39

For a moment I thought you were talking about my website. I am going to have a heart condition :smiley:

This link is what a public API is. Public APIs are doors for machines to access raw data on a service.

Following this analogy, when it comes to Public APIs, you don’t measure the quality of a door by its beauty, but rather by its rapidity to open. You certainly wouldn’t want to display images or anything “fun”, because that would increase the time to deliver the raw data. Instead you have the URL where images are located, and text that is in a certain format to be used safely.

This page is delivered within 400ms on average (depending on your proximity with “Airbnb’s servers”), and that is the data that you see on the profile page meant for humans https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/3

The “client ID” ? It is in fact a method used by Airbnb to try and identify the source (ie: their website from 2009). It does not authenticate a user (so it can be exchanged publicly). The client_id parameter is now obsolete (kind of proving my point here) and has been replaced by a “key” which has the exact same purpose. This link https://api.airbnb.com/v2/users/3?key=d306zoyjsyarp7ifhu67rjxn52tv0t20&_format=v1_legacy_show is exactly the same to you, but for Airbnb, it means you have accessed this from their website from 2016, not from 2009. They keep it working, because they don’t want to break anything, and this must go straight into some reporting pile to investigate. Remove client_id or key and you will have an error https://api.airbnb.com/v2/users/3?_format=v1_legacy_show.

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40

Makes complete sense now. Thank you.

I got a good chuckle from “reporting pile”. Imagine how big their reporting pile to investigate is!!