Booking Through Airbnb

[politib]

I'm really annoyed. We found the perfect apartment through airbnb, and I sent the owners a sweet message just confirming who we are, when we will arrive etc, and to see if the arrival time was ok, before we went ahead to book. We got no response, so went to book tonight and some other buggers have booked it! Argh! [argh]

Do you just book the apartment without sending them a message?
We have used it several times in the past, and have always sent them a message first.

Depends on the property.
Some say you can automatically book without needing to message the owners first.

Did you double check it isn't you the owner has booked in for those dates?

There is instant book and request to book. If it's set to instant book the first person to book gets it. If it's set to request to book the listing is removed from the search results and the host has 24 hours to respond to your request. If they accept the request payment is taken immediately and this confirms the booking.

Sending a message is not a booking or a request to book and is mainly for questions or for example asking if an earlier or later check in time is possible before booking.