@Mike-and-Paige0 I've accepted guests who were new, had no reviews and only a first name. What I go on is the way a guest communicates. A guest who sends a message along with their booking request, along the lines of "Hi Sarah, just found your listing and it looks perfect for me, I'd love to stay. I'm coming to escape the cold and take some surf lessons. I'll be out most of the days and am not a partier, just looking for a quiet place to relax at the end of the day. Do you have any recommendations for surf schools there?" tells me this will be a good guest. A message which only says "What's the best surf school there?" is someone I'm going to question further before deciding whether to accept or not. They are only thinking about themselves, haven't made any effort to be personable or let me know anything about themselves and their plans, yet want to stay in my home, which indicates a sort of cluelessness.
When I message back that latter type, I say something like "Hi XX, thanks for your request. I'm wondering if you are aware that.... Also, since you don't have any reviews yet, could you tell me a bit about yourself and your plans while you are here? Awaiting your reply." This often elicits the kind of response that I would have wanted to receive in the first place. If it only elicits more of the same I'm-too-busy-to talk-to-you,-I-just-want-to-book-the-room type response, I'd decline, but I really haven't had any of those.
However, I do not, never have and never will use Instant Book- as a home-share host, I want to have some communication with guests before approving. If you use IB, you can require verifications, profile photo and some good reviews.
If you get requests from those who don't have those, so can't IB, you just have to go on the sort of things I mentioned above, and decide. If they are new, or haven't messaged in a way that makes it evident, make sure to message them back asking questions that will tell you whether they have fully read your listing description, house rules, cancellation policy, and that they are aware to enter the correct number of guests, as anyone who is not on the reservation will be turned away, etc.
Since we have 24 hours to either accept or decline a request, there's some time there to message with the guest to get things clear before deciding.
And an Inquiry only has to be answered within 24 hours, you don't need to either pre-approve or decline it at all.