Instant bookings are confirmed automatically, which means you no longer have to accept manually or worry about expiring booking requests. You'll receive your payout as usual, 24 hours after the travelers' arrival at your property. Instant Book is only available to accounts that meet certain criteria.
The main difference between Instant Book and Request to Book lies in the booking process. With Instant Book, guests can book your listing immediately without waiting for your approval. With Request to Book, guests must send a booking request, which you can accept or decline within 24 hours.
A channel manager is your secret weapon when it comes to preventing double bookings. Channel managers automatically sync your availability across multiple OTAs, so if a guest makes a reservation on Airbnb at 12:00, there's no possibility of someone else going and booking through Vrbo at 12:01.
Requested additional payments are not automatically charged; the guest must pay the additional payment in order to receive the stay extension or incidentals you are charging extra for. Payment requests expire if the guest doesn't pay after three days.
However, we often encourage potential guests to “book direct.” In other words, we advise guests to forego platforms like VRBO, Homeaway, or Airbnb. Trust us – there's a good reason for this! It's because these platforms charge guests an additional fee for their services.