How do instant booking and request to book policies work for Airbnb reservations?

Refer here to learn how to configure or change the booking policy for a listing for instant and request to book. 

Instant booking

Choosing an instant approval policy saves you time and effort. A booked reservation is automatically approved if the listing is available for booking, and the guest enters their payment details. You'll need to connect a payment processor to Airbnb.

When a reservation is approved, its status will be set to  “Confirmed”, and the listing’s calendar will be blocked in all connected channels.

Regardless of your booking policy, a reservation is instantly approved when you pre-approve a guest’s inquiry.

An instant booking policy can benefit your Airbnb response rate, contribute to your listing ranking in Airbnb search results, and increase your chances of becoming an Airbnb super-host. In some cases, instant booking allows you to cancel an instant reservation without violating Airbnb’s cancellation policy. Read more about how instant booking works in Airbnb.

Request to book

Choosing a request to book policy is helpful when taking payment "on location," or if you want to pre-approve your guests.

To use a request to book policy, you’ll need to connect your payment processor to Airbnb, and guests must add their payment details when they book. 

Reservations are received in “Reserved” status, and the calendar dates are blocked for a limited time (in most cases, 24 hours). Approve or decline the booking request before it expires. 

A request to book policy allows you to add a verification step for your guests before they can book. You have 24 hours to approve or decline the booking request. 

There are cases when a reservation will always be received as a request to book, regardless of the listing's booking policy, as detailed in the last section of the article.

The reservation flow

1. When a guest enters their payment details and clicks "Reserve", the reservation status in Airbnb updates to “Pending verification”.
2. Airbnb checks the listing’s availability (including its maximum occupancy) and verifies the guest’s identity and payment method. The process may take up to 24 hours, during which the guest may undergo additional verification steps. The reservation is canceled if the verification process fails, and won't sync to Guesty.
3. If the verification is successful:
   • For Instant booking: Airbnb tries to charge the guest.
   • For a request to book:
     1. The reservation in Airbnb changes to "Pending" status. You have 23:50 hours to approve or decline the reservation before it automatically expires.
     2. Airbnb attempts to charge the guest once you approve the request. If the request expires, an automatic message is sent to the guest, informing them that the request has been denied. This message cannot be altered or removed. 
4. If charging is successful, Airbnb checks again that the listing is available. If it is, the reservation status transitions to “Confirmed”. If Airbnb fails to charge the guest’s credit card, the reservation status in Airbnb changes to “Awaiting payment’. The guest has 24 hours to update their payment details. The reservation is canceled if the guest doesn’t update the details in time.

Receive a reservation as a request to book

In some cases, a reservation will be received as a request to book, regardless of your listing booking policy. The reservation’s status will be "Reserved" (and not “Confirmed”), the requested dates will be blocked in the calendar, and you will have 24 hours to confirm or decline the reservation before it expires. A request to book will be received if a reservation doesn’t meet the listing’s configurations. For example:

• You set an advance notice on your listing, and the reservation dates fall within the advance notice period.
• The guest doesn’t agree to the listing’s house rules and safety considerations, including your guest verification requirements. 
• There are age restrictions on the listing, or you set an age limitation for making a reservation in Airbnb, and the guest’s age doesn’t comply with your criteria.  For example, if the listing is not marked as Suitable for children (2-12 years), but the guest indicates that the booking party includes children. It is recommended to outline the desired age of guests in the listing’s description fields.
• You allow Airbnb reservations above your listing’s maximum number of nights. In this case, a reservation above the maximum number of nights is received as a request to book. Note that any seasonal or daily max nights setting will override this setting.
• A guest creates a reservation within 48 hours of the check-in date. In this case, Airbnb allows them to select a custom check-in time, which may be outside of your defined check-in window. If this happens, the reservation is received as a request to book.
• You have a “Strict” cancellation policy, and a guest from South Korea books a reservation. South Korean guests can cancel their reservation at any time and receive up to a 50% refund, except for listings in Italy. Thus, Airbnb automatically sends their reservation as a request to book.
• Airbnb flags the booking as high-risk for a party (in compliance with Airbnb's Party and Events policy).
• If a current or previous guest requests a new reservation through an existing conversation, a request to book is sent, even if you have set instant booking.
• If the listing's check-in/out settings are set to "flexible". In this case, guests can edit the check-in/check-out time during the booking process.