@Ashley1281 An Inquiry is just a way for guests to ask questions without committing to a booking. You have 3 choices available on an Inquiry- pre-approve, decline, or simply message back. Most hosts will simply message back (never waste a decline, which counts against you, on an Inquiry)
If you pre-approve an Inquiry, that enables the guest to go on to book if they choose to. But most inquiries don't turn into bookings- you may never hear back from the person again, and they may have sent out inquiries to a dozen different places (your discount seeker may very well have done that, and you should be aware that guests who start out asking for discounts are big red flags)
A Request has the options to accept or decline, but you are free to message with the guest before the 24 hr. window is over, as long as you either accept or decline before the time runs out. When you accept a request, Airbnb immediately starts the process to charge the guest and confirm the booking.
You should never decline a request in favor of an inquiry, because an inquiry isn't a sure thing.
Essentially, the first person to book and pay gets the reservation.
So if you have an inquiry and a request comes in for the same dates, if you really like the sounds of the inquirer and would like them as a guest, you could pre-approve them, but tell them you have a pending requesst for those dates, so they need to actually book right away, or you will have to accept the request instead. You could give them a time frame of say, a half hour. Then get back to the Requester to let them know what is happening.
But generally speaking, as long as a Request doesn't throw up any red flags, you should accept a Request over an Inquiry.
