Help! I received two inquiries for overlapping dates. The first is for a full week - AUG 3-10 - and the second is only for 2 nights - AUG 3-5.
I Pre-Approved the first Inquiry (for the full week) almost immediately, and the potential Guest said she would Accept/Book it tomorrow. When I Pre-Approved it, I did NOT notice an option to BLOCK the dates, or I would have!
Then, a few hours later, I received the 2nd Inquiry for the 2 nights.
Obviously I would like to honor the first inquiry (for the entire week), but I immediately messaged the 2nd inquirer (for the 2 nights), and said that I was sorry, I have already pre-approved an Inquiry for the entire week and THOUGHT it would BLOCK those dates, so I was sorry about any confusion, and I asked him whether he had any flexibility with dates.
My hope it that he will WITHDRAW his Inquiry so that I don't have to DECLINE it - as I know this will penalize me - and maybe even re-Inquire about different dates.
My question: If the first inquirer (the full week) DOESN'T Accept my Pre-Approval and Book within the 24 hours, then will I have to Decline the 2nd inquirer? And if I do, will I be penalized?
What do you do in these situations? I want to do the right thing, but I also don't wish to be penalized.
Also, how can you BLOCK dates when you receive an INQUIRY for a booking?
Many thanks,
Lucia