Am I allowed to decline users without other host reviews?

[Cross-Cultural0]

Am I allowed to decline users when they request to book if they do not have other host reviews yet? I seem to have gotten three different answers from three different airbnb support people

[Emiel1]

@Cross-Cultural0 

You are always allowed to decline a request (it is just an option you can choose, as long as you are not declining for reasons violating the Airbnb terms - like discrimination), but if you decline too much requests it will affect your acceptance rating in a negative way.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Cross-Cultural0 🙂

I already answered your question in the other thread you made on the same subject. Maybe you didn't see it?

If you want to write to a person in a thread make sure to tag the person using @ (like I tagged you) otherwise the person won't know that you wrote a message. This is not airbnb but a host/guest community.

[Sandra856]

@Cross-Cultural0 Also you can always see excactly what your current acceptance rate is under your progress page. It has to be 88 % or more. If you get a lot of newbie request you will get under the 88% pretty fast. Mine is 91% currently and I hardly ever decline requests.

I also believe it has an influence on how high your listing appears when people seach for a place. Those hosts who always approve are likely higher up.