Instant Book -- use ABB Recommended verifications or not?
Oct 3, 2016 0:10:04 GMT
maria and cc like this
Post by High Priestess on Oct 3, 2016 0:10:04 GMT
I just heard from a host in the USA that if she selects to require that Instant Book guests have verifications beyond what Airbnb recommends hosts use (for instance, requiring them to have government ID, or require them to be recommended by other hosts) the result is that her Instant BOok listing is NOT shown to be an Instant Book listing in search results, in that the lightning bolt symbol is taken off of it, and it will NOT show up when guests do a search for instant book listings -- eg by using the filter to show all instant book listings. So guests can't tell it's an Instant Book listing until they click on it.
By contrast, if she chooses to use Airbnb recommended verifications only, and not require government ID, then Airbnb rewards her for her compliance to its desires for hosts by showing the lightning bolt symbol on her listing so that guests can see it when they are viewing listings in search results.
Thus hosts are being pressured to not require verifications that Airbnb doesn't want them to require.
And again, due to the competition out there and the surplus of hosts, many hosts will succumb to this pressure in order to increase their likelihood of getting bookings. Many hosts don't require government ID verification anyway (I dont') but still for me it's the principle of the thing that annoys me. Hosts should not feel that they have to compromise in the measures they take to feel secure (which are personal to them -- hosts have their own reasons for their choices) in order for guests to be able to see in search results that they are an instant book host.
This is worse than just getting lower search result status as a result of choosing to require Government ID or choosing to allow only instant book guests who have been recommended by other hosts. It means Airbnb is actually taking active steps to prevent guests from seeing that you are an instant book listing and thus to prevent you from getting IB bookings, if you have any IB guest requirements other than "Guests who meet Airbnb requirements".
By contrast, if she chooses to use Airbnb recommended verifications only, and not require government ID, then Airbnb rewards her for her compliance to its desires for hosts by showing the lightning bolt symbol on her listing so that guests can see it when they are viewing listings in search results.
Thus hosts are being pressured to not require verifications that Airbnb doesn't want them to require.
And again, due to the competition out there and the surplus of hosts, many hosts will succumb to this pressure in order to increase their likelihood of getting bookings. Many hosts don't require government ID verification anyway (I dont') but still for me it's the principle of the thing that annoys me. Hosts should not feel that they have to compromise in the measures they take to feel secure (which are personal to them -- hosts have their own reasons for their choices) in order for guests to be able to see in search results that they are an instant book host.
This is worse than just getting lower search result status as a result of choosing to require Government ID or choosing to allow only instant book guests who have been recommended by other hosts. It means Airbnb is actually taking active steps to prevent guests from seeing that you are an instant book listing and thus to prevent you from getting IB bookings, if you have any IB guest requirements other than "Guests who meet Airbnb requirements".
