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Not sure what you mean re “filing a formal concern”. There is no process for that, all you can do is submit feedback via their feedback forms. You won’t get any answer to those, but I think they do compile them.
You can also post on their Twitter feed, and there are threads on this on the Airbnb CC forum where you could add a response. The forum moderators do pass on these sorts of responses to new changes to Airbnb, but whether Airbnb takes them to heart and changes things when realizing hosts are up in arms about something is a different story.
I’ve read lots of posts both here and on the CC with hosts saying they will now turn off IB- Airbnb must certainly be aware of how many hosts are having this response to their stupid “update”.
When you turn off instant booking you will probably drop in search results and may find that your bookings drop dramatically. For some people it doesn’t matter, once they get upset by Airbnb they just de-list with them and continue without them or quit the STR business. But if your bookings drop and that’s a problem you could turn on instant booking and then follow up with guests as soon as they book asking for their reason for staying. If you are uncomfortable with a booking (for example they don’t answer your query), you are allowed 3 penalty free cancellations.
It is a pity that it is 3 cancelations per host and not 3 cancellations per listing.
This is another reason why I turned IB off after the latest change to the AIB settings.
Even with the IB message sent, I still had to chase guests for the answers so not much has changed for me. I did add in my listing in more locations that they will need to answer the questions. I require the responses within 24 hours so that they can cancel and get back most if not all of what they paid.
Note - these questions weed out folks who are booking third-party, plan to bring pets or children (not permitted) or want to use my second room as a 2nd bedroom (I have a different, more expensive listing for that option.) While asking the questions and following up within the cancellation period can be a hassle, in the long run it really helps to get guests that are the correct fit for my STR.
Since the IB change, I did get one guest who refused to provide the answers and asked me to cancel her reservation. I told her that she would need to do it. (I’m not about to lose my 3 cancellations because she didn’t read my listing.)
She first reached out to customer service about why she had to provide this info and customer service said that her profile has all that info. (NOT). I showed her a screenshot showing what we see and explained that not all CS reps are as informed as they should be. She said she got that sense too.
Then she reached out to CS to cancel her reservation and 2 days lapsed without hearing from them and she lost her free cancellation option. She decided to provide me with the info because she said she wanted it settled but I suspect she realized that the price was very reasonable compared to other STR in my area and even said that she appreciated all of my good reviews.
Where did you add this? And, anyone have thoughts on this - will it be effective or annoying to guests?
I have the same issues with IB as well as Reservation requests - the guests click ‘send’ and make their ‘booking’ and then turn off their phones, or have never had airbnb notifications ‘on’. I require guests (as per house rules) to immediately send me a copy of their CDC vax card (also assures me that they are over 25 as per our house rules). When they book an autoreply message goes out at that time thru messages but apparently they do not have airbrb notifications turned on or they assume they are getting a ‘welcome’ message or such and assume it does not need their attention.
After sending a few messages that get no response, I have resorted to asking airbnb to contact the guests. They can only phone guests during ‘business hours’ but that usually gets the guest to immediately pay attention to their message thread.
This is exhausting for us. And it would be so easy to have the guests have the house rules (or something that we could fill in) in their faces when they are about to press the button.
I am thinking that there might be some part of the description etc that could have us say “you are required to do xxxx and yyy when you book”. Does anyone who has gone through the IB process have any ideas? Maybe in the prebooking area “interactions with guests”? Does that show up “in their face”? Ideas, anyone?
It’s now in the listing description
Before booking, check out info required when you book & house rules.
It’s in a section called: Other details to note
Include any special info you want potential guests to know before booking that isn’t covered in other settings.
It’s in my house rules
And in the house description.
Also, in regards to guests not answering, I have the same issue but if I don’t get a response within the 24 hours, I text them a message via their phone number and tell them they need to check their Airbnb message for info required to book. If I don’t get a response from that, I then call them and leave a message and if that doesn’t work, I contact Airbnb about 6 hours before the free 48 cancellation period. Airbnb customer support is not always helpful. Most of the time it’s resolved by the time I send the text to tell them to check their airbnb message.
It’s a pain-in-the-ass but it’s worth it to make sure I have guests that fit my STR requirements.
Honestly, I was thisclose to using one of my “I’m uncomfortable IB cancelations.” The woman is 63 and doesn’t not have a permanent address but of course Airbnb doesn’t tell you that nor is it updated in her profile.
Well, she sounds somewhat all-around clueless, so telling her she could cancel probably didn’t register as being able to cancel on her own with one click.
Sure that works. But for an established listing, that would mean it would have to be started anew and you’d lose all the reviews and ratings.
I’ve also heard of a husband and wife, if they have 2 listings (or more) putting one listing under one account and one under another to avoid having the ratings for one listing affect the Superhost ratings, in case one listing consistently gets 5 star reviews and one doesn’t.
You might wonder why a host would get excellent reviews on one listing and not on another, but it happens, and not just with entire house listings, some of which may be nicer or in a better location than others, or attract a different demographic of guests.
For instance, a regular contributor to the Airbnb CC, who has been hosting 3 private rooms for many years in her old Victorian house, says she gets much better ratings on one room than another. Sure, the rooms are different, but they are all very nice, are accurately described and pictured, and provide the same amenities, and as a home-share host she’s obviously dealing with all guests in the same way, the house rules are the same, and the entire house and all the rooms are cleaned equally well, so it doesn’t make sense. In fact, the room that gets the best ratings isn’t the one she considers to be the nicest.
I am API connected. 2 weeks ago I found I could stay API connected and switch to IB. This had not been the case for me before.
I went RTB on all 9 listings after years of IB with ID+ positive past stay qualifications. Early results are that I’ve stayed full with lots of last minute bookings in our ski town. I would tell everyone to at least TRY IB for awhile if you don’t like the new lax IB rules.
Hosts can test themselves if they appear lower on search or are harder to find. While on IB, use an incognito browser without being logged in. Search airbnb as any other guest would and try to find your listing. Then switch to RTB and do the same search as user in incognito a few days later. See if anything has changed from the POV of the guest searching. And of course see if you feel like you have less guests inquiring/requesting than when you were on IB.
And most importantly. Let us know what you find!!
Hopefully the search results is just a scare tactic from ABB to nudge everyone toward IB. But at the end of the day, ABB wants to match guests with places to stay. So if your place is the best match and you are RTB it might be at the top of search. This is my guess how it works. IB is just 1 factor out of many.
I’ve done IB since I began at my first rental. My bookings dropped to nothing earlier in November even though I was right up front.
I turned off IB and then went to page 4 or 5 using incognito.
Don’t have a clue as to why I dropped off the edge, lowest views ever. Turned IB back on and we’ll see if it makes a difference. I’ve had few problems with guests using IB.
I’ve noticed lots of newbies and others in the town are having a race to the bottom with prices.
A few years ago a guest told me that she searched 5 times and my place was not visible at all until she upped the price range to twice what I charge, at which point my listing came up first. I have never used IB.
So it’s very true that there are many factors affecting search and IB is only one of them, although it seems that in general search, without the guest using any filters, IBs are definitely given priority.
My guest’s search experience also made me aware that Airbnb wants to lead guests to book more expensive places (higher service fees for them), as she had to up the price range significantly before my listing came up, even though it is half the price of the top range she finally entered.
I sure wish Airbnb would stop trying to “manage” travel choices and just show all the listings in any particular area, according to the actual filters guests input that are important to them.
