Instant Book for All Listings

Instant book decides whether a guest can book and pay straight away or has to send a request you approve first. With it on, the booking button reads Book now and the guest pays to confirm. With it off, the button reads Request booking and you approve before the guest pays.

Every listing has its own Instant book switch, and every listing starts with it off (request to book). Haven recommends turning it on: a guest comparing places tends to book the one that confirms now. Checkout asks every guest who is not already signed in for their details (name, email, phone — no account needed) before they pay or send a request, and Instant Book does not remove that step.

Brand → Tips → Turn on Instant book lists every listing with what is left before it can switch on — a paid plan, Stripe payouts or two-way calendar sync — and a button that goes straight to that fix, or to the switch once nothing is left. Choose Skip on the tip if you prefer requests.

How to Change It

Open Sites → Listing settings (/host?tab=listing-settings) and find the Instant book column under Booking. The gear on Listing sites and Listing settings on a listing's Calendar → Availability tab open the same grid.

• One listing: flip its cell. It saves on its own.
• Every listing you have now: open the column's ⋯ menu and choose Set for all, or click the column name and press Set value.
• Every listing, including ones you add later: flip the switch in the All listings row at the top of the column. Every listing takes it now, and every listing a full PMS syncs in afterwards starts with it. A listing you create by hand or import from a link, a website or Airbnb through Hospitable Connect still starts off, because it has no two-way calendar sync yet; set that up and switch it on. The column is tinted on each listing that has it.

On a free plan those Instant book cells stay locked, with the note "Free plans can't enable instant booking." and a View plans link. The steps above are for a paid plan. Guests can still send requests.

A listing with no PMS keeps its Instant book cell locked off until its two-way calendar sync is set up (see What You Need for Instant Book On); the cell's note says which half is missing and has an Open Calendar sync link. Set for all and the All listings row skip those listings and name them.

You can still give one listing a different setting afterwards; its cell loses the tint. The × in the All listings cell stops applying it, and every listing keeps the value it has.

If You Used All On or All Off Before

The old Property settings sheet had All on and All off modes. If one is still active, the Instant book cells show its value and each listing's own switch reads "On for all your listings" or "Off for all your listings" with a Change in Listing settings link. The first change you make to the column in Listing settings copies the shown value onto every listing and ends the old mode. Set it in the All listings row if you want listings added later to keep starting the same way.

What You Need for Instant Book On

• A paid Haven plan. Free plans can't enable instant booking, so the switch stays off with a short note, and All listings can't be set to on. Guests can still send requests.

• Stripe payouts, for listings where Haven collects payment. You can turn instant book on before Stripe setup is finished. Until it is, those listings keep taking requests. Listings where OwnerRez processes the payment take instant bookings and booking requests without Haven's Stripe; see Let OwnerRez Process Direct Booking Payments.

• Two-way calendar sync, for every listing with no PMS. An instant booking is confirmed with nobody checking the other calendars, so the listing's calendar has to sync both ways on its own. Both halves are under the listing's Calendar sync section (Edit listing → Preferences → iCal):

  1. Haven sees your other bookings. Import each Airbnb and Vrbo calendar with Add external calendar, and wait until every imported calendar shows Connected (a new one is checked within about 15 minutes). A listing connected through your Airbnb account (Hospitable Connect) already has this half for Airbnb.
  2. Your other channels see Haven's bookings. Paste your Haven calendar link into Airbnb (Calendar → Availability settings → Sync calendars), Vrbo and your other channels, then tick I've added this link.

  Until both are done, the listing's Instant book switch stays off, with a note naming the missing half and an Open Calendar sync link. A listing that is not on Airbnb, Vrbo or any other booking site has nothing to sync: tick This listing is only on Haven in the import card instead (it shows while no calendar is imported). That answer stops counting as soon as the listing imports a calendar, connects through Hospitable Connect, or has a link under Other booking sites. None of this applies to a listing synced from a full PMS (the PMS keeps its channels in step itself) or to a listing that follows another listing's calendar. All on is refused while any listing still needs it; Listing settings marks which ones.

Things That Stay the Same

• Guest screening. If you screen guests, anyone who does not pass still goes through a request, even with instant book on.
• Blocked guests. A guest whose name matches your blocked list is turned into a request for you to review.
• The inquiry button. Every listing keeps its Submit an Inquiry button, so guests who want to ask first still can — unless you hide it on that listing (Calendar → Availability → Inquiry button, or the Inquiry button column in Listing settings). See Guest Inquiries.
• Existing reservations. Changing instant book affects new bookings only.

How Quickly Guests See the Change

Signed-in visitors and checkout see the change at once. A listing page cached for signed-out visitors can take up to about five minutes to update. If a guest starts a booking from an older copy of the page, checkout still follows your current setting, so nobody is charged under the old one.

Related Articles

• Set Booking Rules for All Listings
• Availability Settings
• Where Every Setting Lives
• Hold Dates for Pending Requests
• Auto-Expire Pending Requests
• Guest Inquiries