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Airbnb are again hiding the little box that says “choose Instant book"
and leaving it so you have to go into
"choose more filters” and "un-check " it to see non-instant book listings.
I live in Bologna and my listing is coming up after places as far as Modena because
I dont participate in instant booking.
Im going to write in again about this.
Yes, the whole system seems to be a complete mess at the moment.
It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if some level of instant booking were forced on all of us at some point. That seems to be the trend with several of the competitors.
Yes, it does seem to be the trend, but then again, the Air model is mostly for home sharing…rooms in your home, right? Where hosts should be able to vet the guest!!! Not just be forced to take anyone!
I could see it in a booking.com model or in one where the rental is a separate vacation home. That does seem to be what’s happening right now with VRBO. (They are changing the platform to be more like Air and the users are hopping mad over having had to pay a subscription fee as well as now, a service fee.
But to force instant book on us Air hosts would seem overly restrictive …so I do see it as always being optional.
I just did a search and no such thing . I had to click the IB button to get instant book listings
Subscription fee pays owner, service fees pays guest. They just changed it
Instant book should not be forced on any owner…whether you live there or not. Why would I hand over a luxury home without vetting the guests?
That’s what’s going down on VRBO, as I understand it. All properties will be IB (or BIN, in their terminology) by the end of the year. Plus they were always a subscription site, where you paid a yearly fee to advertise and communicated directly with the guest. Now they are strong arming owners with traveler fees, CC fees and pretty soon, control of the communication. Owners who don’t comply are sent to the basement of search results or booted off the site. Outrageous!
BIN is not an instant book. The owner has 24 hours to talk to the guest and determine if the match is good and then accept or reject the booking request.
Thanks Georgy, I stand corrected. I don’t list on that site but have been trying to keep up with what’s going on there. I’ve got friends in this neighborhood who use that site and who saw their bookings go completely dead in December, when normally they are booked back to back during the whole winter season. They could not understand it. They thought it was THEM (beachfront place for $275 per night) and could not understand why they suddenly had no bookings. Apparently they were not alone.
I use Instant Book on Airbnb and BIN on VRBO/Homeaway. I’m happy with both. I don’t homeshare, I have separate vacation rentals, so it’s easier for me to do Instant Book. Most of my guests that use Instant Book (75%) do message me first, so there is a degree of communication in advance. On VRBO i pay the subscription fee, and I’m happy with the results in my bookings. Both platforms have good and bad but I couldn’t rely on either platform on its own to keep me booked.
That’s very true. I am also on booking. Com and 75% I rent through them. I started out so nicely with Airbnb but I think I will have more bookings with them during slow season when prices drop down. Though I like my Airbnb guests much more , through booking I can sell my room for better price
Yes, instant booking will give you precedence in your status. This was verified by a woman who is head of host relations here in my town.
Cant stand this. I have Luxury houses that are 4 and 5 bedroom. If I turned on “instant book” I would get swamped with bachelor and bachelorette parties. I don’t want those groups. I focus on multi generational groups. I guess I have to stay lower in ranking, even though my house is better, because I am selective about the groups I allow in my homes. Too bad.
I’m hopeless at evaluating guests when they enquire. I hope that our listing (and price) puts off partiers and bargain hunters so to date, I’m happy with instant book.
My worst ever guests, who weren’t really so very bad, were ones that I’d vetted before I decided to use IB. Yes, it’s a bit of a gamble but it works for me - so far 
Even with IB, almost everyone so far has sent an inquiry which offers the decline oprion.
You could state clearly “No bachelor/ bachelorette parties” or something to the effect of registered guests only. No parties or other guests allowed without prior approval. I would think something like that would eliminate the unwanted behavior.
In the instabook settings you are allowed to leave a message and I always include “Please let us know when you are arriving so that we can coordinate keys” because that was our biggest worry. You could put in your note there too.
Sorry but it already says that.
Then I think you can cancel them or claim damages if they violate it
Everybody should be writing in about this, whether or not it affects you right now.
I too am in an area where you are hidden if the guest is searching to stay within 7 days of arrival. I am now hidden on Airbnb unless the guest “sees” to uncheck the instant book box (because I am not on instant book). Even though I have no one so far coming in the following weekend, I will now not even show on both Airbnb and VRBO to try to be able to get someone.
Pleae do not wait until this personally affects you.