Instant Book allows you to automatically accept Direct booking requests without manual review, based on your configuration.
Depending on your setup, bookings may be accepted instantly or require manual approval.
How Instant Book Works
When Instant Book is enabled, booking requests can be automatically accepted after the guest completes the required steps.
These may include:
Payment
Guest verification (Direct Premium only)
If all conditions are met, the booking is accepted automatically. Otherwise, it remains pending for manual review.
Instant Book on Direct Premium
On Direct Premium, Instant Book works together with guest verification.
Guests must complete verification before a booking can be accepted
Hospitable assigns a risk level after verification
Only low-risk bookings are automatically accepted
Medium- and high-risk bookings require manual approval
This allows you to automate acceptance while still filtering for risk.
On Direct Premium, Instant Book only accepts low-risk guests after verification is completed.
Instant Book on Direct Basic
On Direct Basic, Instant Book does not use guest verification.
All booking requests are automatically accepted
No risk assessment is applied
No manual approval is required (unless restricted by other settings)
When a Booking Is Not Accepted Instantly
Even with Instant Book enabled, a booking may not be accepted immediately.
Common reasons include:
Guest verification is not yet completed (Direct Premium)
The booking does not meet your Instant Book conditions
Payment has not been successfully processed
If any of these apply, the booking will remain pending and require manual action.
Manual Approval and Expiration
If a booking is not automatically accepted:
It appears as a pending request
You must accept or reject it manually
Booking requests expire if no action is taken
Direct booking requests expire if they are not accepted or rejected within the required timeframe.
Relationship to Guest Verification
Instant Book and guest verification work together but serve different purposes:
Guest verification → Assesses risk
Instant Book → Controls automatic acceptance
With both enabled (Direct Premium):
Guests complete verification first
Low-risk bookings are automatically accepted
Others require manual review
See also: Guest Verification for Direct Bookings
When to Use Instant Book
Instant Book is useful if you want to:
Automatically accept qualified bookings
Reduce manual work
Speed up the booking process
It works best when combined with:
Guest verification (for risk control)
Rental agreements (for terms enforcement)
Security deposits (for protection)
Key Things to Know
Instant Book automatically accepts bookings when conditions are met
Direct Premium uses verification and risk scoring
Direct Basic accepts all bookings automatically
Some bookings may still require manual approval
Pending requests must be accepted or rejected before they expire