Instant Book
What is Instant Book?
Instant Book is an Airbnb feature that hosts can turn on and off for their listing, which removes the necessary manual approval process. Instead of being notified that someone wants to book your place and having to approve them, guests can just choose their dates, book, and discuss check-in plans later. If you turn on Instant Book, it will apply to all the available nights on your calendar and guests will automatically be able to book your accommodation as long as they meet your requirements. Meeting the requirements is where you keep control.
Adding this option to your listing can help you get more bookings and improve the guest experience. Discover in detail what Airbnb Instant Book is and learn more about the pros and cons of using Instant Book for your listing.
Positives of Instant Book
Less manual work: Turning on the airbnb Instant Book feature removes the need for you to have to manually respond to each and every request - and, in turn, removes the risk of you being labelled an ‘unresponsive’ host if you’re busy - which means more time for you.
Increased Earnings: Think about when you are booking vacation and making plans; you don’t want to wait around to see if you’re approved. You want instant, so you can move on to the next item on your list. Many guests use filters on Airbnb so that only accommodation with Instant Book appears in their searches. They want hassle-free booking and Instant Book provides that.
Put your rental higher on search results: From Airbnb itself: In addition to getting a badge to highlight your listing, you’ll also be higher in search results. The feature also helps your response rate for your listing which helps to move you up the list when it comes to search results.
Superhost status: To secure Superhost status on Airbnb you need to be a host that has at least a 90 percent response rate. By allowing Instant Book, your chances of achieving this status are increased.
Increases the number of reviews: People book units with more reviews. More bookings means more reviews. When you have Instant Book turned on, you’ll be able to receive more reviews and achieve the Airbnb Superhost status title much faster.
Negatives of Instant Book
Turning on airbnb instant book removes a barrier between you and your guest and therefore reduces some of your control when it comes to who walks through the front door.
Many hosts want to look at a potential guest’s profile and read their references and reviews before approving. They want to make sure the personality and expectations of the guest are suited to the space – and often want to hear from the guest explaining their purpose for travel.
Increased cancelations: With Instant Book turned on, guests have a tendency to book first and go over the details later. This can lead to a loss in profit, if you get a last-minute cancelation. Ensure to check over your cancellation policy. In general, Instant Book also leads to more cancellations – possibly because the guest doesn’t feel like they have engaged with the host or made a firm commitment due to the Instant Book feature. This is a good time to go over your automated messages.
Hectic Cleaning Schedule: Always communicate with your cleaning team. In the off season, cleaners often clean a house a day after departure. If you allow instant book and your house is currently dirty, your cleaners may be booked for that day and you will need to find alternate means to clean the house. That may mean you!
Miscommunication: Not all guests read the entire listing before booking. As an example, they may be expecting a whole home to themselves and arrive to see they booked a private room in a shared house or had hopes to use laundry, but it isn’t something the host share with guests. While the guest should have read the entire listing, this can strain the guest and host relationship and often leads to lower reviews (even though it’s not the hosts’ fault). Without Instant Book, the host has the opportunity to remind the guest of the property type and house rules before confirming a booking.
Make instant book work for you
Chat with your guests
As a host, you should be communicating with your guest after they book. You can get a better idea of the type of guest you are dealing with during a conversation. For example, you can ask what time the guest will arrive, if they checked the house rules and if there are any special requirements on their end. You can also ask if they have any questions or concerns about the house or where they are visiting.
2. Create a 1-day or Same Day with cut off time Notice for Your Instant Bookings
I highly recommend not allowing same-day requests with Airbnb Instant Book. Same-day bookings can be hard to manage, especially when it comes to property preparation and cleaning. If same day must be used, it is recommended to have the cut off time fairly early, like 1pm. Ensure to check in with your cleaning crew to see if they can handle same day booking requests in the off season. Do you go to the house, turn up the heat, turn on a couple lights and do a pre inspection check? If so, make your life easier and pick a cut off time that works for you and not against you. Depending where you live, guests booking the day of on the fly can often be guests that don’t plan or prepare, perhaps younger or had another host cancel on them for a reason. Of course this is not true for all guests.
3. Minimum and Maximum Stay
Instant Book allows you to use filters to help you avoid short bookings or guests who only want to stay for one night. You can add a 2 or 3-night stay requirement to have enough time to prepare your property for the next guests. Setting a minimum-stay requirement will help you to drive away guests who rent a house for the purpose of throwing a party. Each destination has a high and low season. Capitalising on the high season with a higher minimum stay is an essential part of the business.
4. Use Additional Requirements for Guests
Airbnb states that your guests will meet all of Airbnb’s requirements before they make a reservation. That being said, Airbnb can’t guarantee that all the requirements will be met. That is why it is a good idea to add additional guest requirements to protect yourself, such as:
limit bookings to guests who’ve submitted their government-issued ID to Airbnb;
only accept guests who’ve already used Airbnb and received positive reviews
Ensure your house rules are up to date
5. Cancel a reservation if you don’t feel comfortable
You don’t have to keep a reservation that makes you feel uncomfortable. It’s your house and your investment. According to the Airbnb rules, you are able to cancel reservations if you have a solid reason to do so. This option allows you to have more control over your reservations, even when they are booked instantly. However, there will be certain Host penalties for canceling reservations. If the guest has bad reviews or says something that makes you doubt their intentions, follow up with airbnb directly so you can cancel without penalty. It’s always worth asking the guest to cancel on their end as they can do so without penalty. Being kind and letting the guest know that the house + group is not the right fit is always a good first step.
In summary, the benefits of Airbnb’s Instant Book outweigh the negatives. We believe you should turn on the Instant Book feature to improve your SEO and keep or attain superhost status. To prevent issues from Instant Book, don’t offer day of booking, write specific house rules, ask for verified guest I.D. and require a minimum stay of at least two days.