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How-to • Home host

Booking settings for hosts

Instant book makes it easy for guests to reserve a stay and for hosts to accept reservations without the need to manually check and confirm each reservation request.

Welcoming guests with Instant book

All guests must agree to your house rules before booking, and if you’re uncomfortable with an Instant book reservation, you can cancel it. However, fees or other consequences may be applied for canceling a guest's reservation.

Booking settings for new hosts

If you are new to hosting and would like to manually review your reservation requests while you get a feel for things, choose Approve your first 5 bookings. You’ll start by reviewing reservation requests, then switch to Instant book so guests can book automatically.

Optional settings for guest requirements

All guests must meet Airbnb’s booking requirements, but you’re welcome to add more at any time in your Instant book settings, such as:

  • Good track record: completed a stay without incident or bad reviews
  • Pre-booking message: Create a preset message with questions for guests to respond to when booking

Note: You must turn on Instant book to add guest requirements to your listing.

Changing booking settings

Manage booking settings on desktop

  1. Click Listings and select the listing you want to change
  2. Under Listing editor, click Booking settings
  3. Select Use instant book or Approve all bookings
  4. Click Save

Set advance notice and preparation time

To avoid last-minute bookings, you can set both advance notice and preparation time between bookings, and we’ll automatically block these days on your calendar.

  • Same day (with a cut-off time)
  • At least 1 day
  • At least 2 days
  • At least 3 days
  • At least 7 days

Bookings within 48 hours of check-in

Instant book isn't available if a guest books within 2 days of check-in and needs to arrive at a time that's outside your check-in window. In this case, you’ll receive a Request to Book reservation and you can decide if the guest's check-in time still works for you. If not, you don’t have to accept the reservation.

Set your minimum and maximum trip length

Avoid reservations that are too long or short by setting your minimum and maximum trip length. If you don't set a limit, a 31-night maximum will automatically be applied.

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