We have a hotel and dive school. Over Christmas, New Year and Easter we only make hotel reservations for guests who will be diving with us. Yesterday a guest requested a cabin and I sent them a message saying that I could accept only if they will be diving with us. They did not respond and then Airbnb emailed me, telling me off for not accepting or decling the reservation. What can I do in cases like this? Is the only option to block off the hotel during those dates? Seems a shame to do that, when they might be divers.
Do have a look at the Help Centre to get a better understanding of how the booking system works.
All you have to do is decline the booking within 24 hours and you won't get messages like this from Airbnb.
Do make it clear in your house rules and up front in your listing that you only accept bookings fro Christmas that include your dive school (presume you have already priced to reflect this).