Instagram DM inquiries for Airbnb and cabin hosts: why messages get lost and how to set it up

Instagram inquiries get lost because the guest usually does not follow you: their message lands in a separate requests folder and stays off your chat list until you accept it. In a Yada sample published by Guesty in November 2023, Instagram inquiries waited 193 minutes on average for a first reply, and only 21 percent got one.

Below: six places where inquiries disappear, the setup step by step with the exact menu names, four chat questions to copy, what connected software may and may not do (24 hours and 7 days), and a twice-a-day routine that keeps you inside those limits.

How many booking inquiries come through Instagram?

We found no published figure for holiday rentals. None of the sources we searched, from booking sites to tourism reports, gives the share of stays that starts with an Instagram DM.

What exists is a response-time sample:

Source: Guesty, 5 November 2023, using Yada data from 1,000 randomly selected conversations, plus a test of Instagram response times with 100 short-term rental management companies. It is a sample of professional managers, not a market study. The point still holds: Instagram is the channel where properties answer least often, so a guest who asks there is the easiest one to lose to the next cabin in their feed.

Where do Instagram messages get lost?

In six places, and each one comes down to a setting or a rule you can check.

1. The requests folder. A message from someone you do not follow goes to Message Requests and only appears in your chat list after you accept it. A guest who found your cabin through a hashtag almost always lands there.
2. Requests switched off. Under Message controls you can choose not to receive message requests at all. If someone flipped that once, new people cannot reach you.
3. Primary and General. On a professional account, new conversations from followers go to Primary, and from everyone else to Requests. A conversation answered through connected software moves to General, whatever your inbox settings say.
4. No access for your inbox. If Allow access to messages is off, Meta Business Suite and other apps cannot see your DMs. You see them only in Instagram.
5. The 24-hour window. Connected software may reply within 24 hours of the guest's last message, and a human using that software within 7 days. A Friday-night inquiry spotted the following Friday is out of reach for any tool.
6. Old requests. Conversations in Requests with no activity for 30 days are no longer returned by the API, so an external inbox will not show them.

There is also the human reason: one person in the household has Instagram on their phone and reads inquiries whenever they happen to open the app.

How do you set up Instagram for guest inquiries?

It takes about 20 minutes. Menu names are from Instagram's Help Center in English.

1. Switch to a professional account. Tap Profile or your profile picture at the bottom right, then More to reach Settings and activity. Below For professionals, tap Account type and tools, then Switch to professional account. Pick a category, tap Switch to professional account, choose Business and tap Next. A professional account cannot be private, and pending follow requests are accepted automatically.
2. Add contact details. A professional account can show a Contact button near the top of the profile with directions, a phone number and an e-mail address. Anyone who taps Contact sees them.
3. Check message requests. On a computer, click More at the bottom left, then Settings. Below How others can interact with you, click Messages and story replies, then Message controls. Make sure requests go to your Message Requests folder rather than being refused.
4. Allow your inbox to see messages. Go to your profile and tap Menu at the top right. Select Messages and story replies, then Message requests. Below Connected tools, switch on Allow access to messages. The setting only appears for accounts connected to a Facebook Page, Meta Business Suite, Business Manager or a third-party app.
5. Connect Meta Business Suite, if you use it. On desktop, click Inbox, then the Instagram tab, confirm access, click Continue, log in to Instagram, click Continue and Done. You need full control of the Instagram profile.
6. Add chat FAQs. Tap Messages at the bottom, tap the icon at the top right, then Tools. Choose Frequently asked questions, turn on Show Questions and tap Add Question. Up to four, each with an optional automated response. Tap Save.
7. Add an action button, if you have one. Tap Edit profile, then below Public business information tap Action buttons. It is rolling out gradually, the partner list is short and you need an account with the partner. Only one button shows at a time.
8. Put a chat link everywhere else. https://ig.me/yourhandle opens a conversation with your account. Use it on your website, in booking confirmations and on a QR code in the cabin.

Guides also describe saved replies for professional accounts, Instagram's version of WhatsApp quick replies. We could not open Meta's help page on them, so we give no menu path or limit.

Four chat questions to copy

Question: Are you free on my dates?
Automated response: Send me your arrival and departure dates and the number of guests, and I will reply with availability and the price. The calendar is also here: [link].

Question: How much is a night?
Automated response: It depends on the dates and the number of guests. Send me your dates and I will give you the exact total, cleaning included.

Question: Can we bring a dog?
Automated response: [Yes, for a fee of X per stay / Sorry, no pets]. Tell me about your dog and I will suggest the best cabin.

Question: How do we get there?
Automated response: We are in [village], [distance] from [town]. Map pin: [link]. Full directions come with the booking confirmation.

These do two jobs. The guest opens with a question about dates instead of "hi", and gets an answer before you have opened the app.

What can connected software do, and what only a person?

Connected software may only reply after the guest writes first, and only within 24 hours of their last message; a person replying through that software has 7 days.

Meta also requires an automated chat to say it is automated where the law demands it, naming California and Germany, and recommends it everywhere as good practice. More in our piece on AI disclosure.

How do you reply on time without living in the app?

Five minutes in the morning and five in the evening keep you inside every limit above. Chat FAQs only work before the guest's first message; everything after that needs an answer.

1. Open Messages and start with Requests. Accept every stay inquiry, even one that reads "hi, free?".
2. Go through Primary and General from the oldest unanswered conversation. Anything older than 20 hours comes first, because it is about to leave the window for tools.
3. Answer a date question with the price and one line on the next step: a booking link, WhatsApp or a phone call.
4. Write down conversations that need a decision (a dog, early arrival, a group) and settle them in the evening, before 24 hours pass.
5. If you use an inbox or an agent, once a week send yourself a DM from another account and check it arrived.

A first reply to a date inquiry, ready to copy:

Hi, thanks for your message. [Dates] are free, and for [number] guests the total is [amount] including cleaning. You can book here: [link]. If you prefer, message me on WhatsApp: [number].

Where Supalobby fits

Supalobby is an AI agent for short-term rentals with one inbox. Instagram DMs arrive there with their replies, in the same thread as that guest's WhatsApp, Booking.com or e-mail conversation, and the agent answers in the guest's language. In Copilot mode it drafts and you send; in Autopilot, switched on for Instagram separately, it replies on its own and hands the thread to you when unsure. Like any connected tool, it needs a professional account with Allow access to messages on, and it works inside Meta's 24-hour window. Posts, stories and comments stay with you. Autopilot costs 49 zł (about €11) per listing a month.