You're welcome @James-L-0 !
You will be getting 2 different types of messages from potential guests:
-Enquiry: a guest messages to ask you a question, usually before they are sure they want to make a booking with you. It will be titled "Enquiry" and will have the options to decline or pre-approve, but you don't need to do either...you can just reply to the message to maintain your stats. Your reply (or not) to their message will affect your 'response' statistic- it falls under 'basic requirements' and 'superhost' in your stats.
-Request to book: a guest wants to book with you, they are sure of this and need you to approve the request- it will be titled "request to book" and will have the options to decline or approve- you DO need to choose one or the other within 24 hours or the request will time out. Your action here (approve or decline) affects your 'accepted reservations' statistic- and falls under 'basic requirements' in your stats.
I hope that all makese sense!
Paul 🙂