[CardenB]

Yes. You contact the hosts and then they have to approve you. Hosts review their guests after each stay for future hosts to look at.

[mynameisvlad]

Not 100% true, there are plenty of instant book properties on AirBnB which do not require any interaction between host and guest before the purchase.

[ivan_gammel]

It was the decision of hosts to list the properties for instant booking, so host controls who can stay anyway. In these cases it just does not matter for the host who are the guests.

[mynameisvlad]

Yes, that's true, and I never said it wasn't. I was just clarifying that, in some cases, you don't communicate with the host before you book.