@Cathy157
Your message is not 100% clear to me. Did you actually let them stay without a confirmed booking ? If so, the solution is simple; never let anybody stay without a confirmed booking. It will show as confirmed in "your reservations".
It does not really matter who cancels - a cancelled reservation is a cancelled reservation and will show as such in "your reservations".
A pending reservation due to payment issues or verification issues will expire and after expiration show as cancelled in "your reservations".
A confirmed reservation will show as confirmed in "your reservations" and will have an unique booking number. Then and only then do you have a reservation and you will get paid 24 hours after check-in. Do not fall for any sob stories and do not honour anything pending.
If you have correspondance with these "guests", you will have access to their profile in this message. Once accessed, you can flag their profile.