Declining a Request

[Jenny-And-Ray0]

I have had a request for a 3 week booking I have messaged them twice over the past two weeks with no reply.

Where do I stand if I decline the booking request?

[Jeff158]

@Jenny-And-Ray0  Ooops

Its a bit late if the booking request has been on your dashboard for 2 weeks, you're supposed to accept or decline within 24hrs.

Click the link for more information

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/28/what-do-i-do-after-i-get-a-request-to-book?

[Jenny-And-Ray0]

Within hours I replied to the request asking for more information I did not want to be penalised for declining and was a little uneasy about the booking. If I get another inquiry like this will I be penalised if I define it

[Sarah977]

@Jenny-And-Ray0  A Booking Request and an Inquiry are 2 different things.

An Inquiry is just a guest asking questions. They may not even have put in the correct dates that they want, but they have to enter some dates to contact you. You have to answer an Inquiry message within 24 hours, but you don't have to pre-approve or decline it, in spite of the messages you'll get from Airbnb urging you to. You may often not hear back from a guest who sent an Inquiry. The Inquiry will expire in 24 hours.

A Booking Request needs to be approved or declined within 24 hours, but you can still message with the guest before doing that. If the clock is running out without a response , it's far better to decline the booking rather than let the 24 hours elapse, as this will hit you on your response rate. A Booking Request also runs out in 24 hours.

This guest is not going to respond. Forget about them. Time has way run out.

[Yadira22]

Hi @Jenny-And-Ray0 

hope you are well.

Declining guests with valid reasons, eg not a good fit, etc is fine. Cancelling a reservation unless it’s one made via instant booking (and in this case with valid reasons and via contacting Airbnb) is cause for being penalised.

Hope this made sense and do let us know if we can assist further.

Yadira 🙂