Using Instant Book
Corina Best avatar
Written by Corina Best
Updated over a week ago

When instant book is enabled, all bookings will be confirmed instantly, without you needing to accept. This provides an awesome booking experience for customers and saves hosts a lot of time. Not to mention, listings with instant book are ranked higher in search so it can be a great way to attract more bookings.

We want to make sure you're set up for success when using instant book, so please read the following before you enable this feature.

What are the requirements for using instant book?

Before you enable this setting, you must have your calendars synced with all of the other booking platforms you use, and ensure you keep your pricing and minimum booking requirements up-to-date. You can't cancel a guest's booking because the price isn't right or it doesn't meet your minimum stay requirements.

To help you manage this, we suggest you use the Booking Window setting, so that you don't receive bookings for dates beyond that which you've updated. You can also toggle off the Same-day Bookings setting if you need notice to prepare for guests.

What if I get a double booking?Β 

Riparide syncs you external calendars every hour to ensure that availabilities are as up-to-date as possible. In the unlikely event that you receive a booking on another platform first and then a Riparide booking immediately afterwards, we will waive any penalties for cancelling the booking, as long as you can show that the other booking was made first and as long as you cancel within 24 hours.

In the event that you receive a Riparide booking first and then subsequently get a double booking on another platform with instant book enabled, we would expect you to cancel the booking on the other platform, as the Riparide booking was confirmed first. Other booking platforms don't sync calendars as often as we do, so to be super safe, you can always jump into those platforms and run a manual calendar sync if you get a Riparide booking.

The latter won't be an issue if you don't have instant book enabled on other platforms, so why not throw your support behind an Australian-owned company and use instant book only on Riparide! πŸ˜‰

What if someone books, but my listing is unsuitable for them?

If someone books and then provides some information about their group or stay that makes you uncomfortable hosting them, then you will be able to cancel the booking penalty-free. Some examples of valid reasons why your listing might be unsuitable could be that they have young children when you've stated your property isn't safe for young children, or they said they plan to bring a a pet when you're place insn't pet-friendly, or they plan to host an event and you don't allow events.

How do I cancel an instant booking?

Go to My Listings > Bookings > Cancel, and provide the cancellation reason. If the cancellation falls into one of the penalty-free scenarios described above, we'll waive the standard $50 or $100 host cancellation penalty. Here's a recap of the scenarios that are eligible for penalty-free cancellations:

  • You already had a booking on another platform

  • Your listing is unsuitable for the guest's group or their type of stay

Once you've cancelled the booking, give us a shout via live chat or on [email protected] and we'll remove any penalties.

How to enable Instant Book?

If you are confident you meet the requirements for using instant book, go to your listing's calendar settings to turn it on (My Listings > Calendar > Calendar Settings).

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