What happens if you decline a booking inquiry?

[Miriam164]

Hi,

I got an booking inquiry, howver the guest wants to come with 19 guest and I allow up till 18.

So I want to decline, but I do not want to get penalties

So how should I do this.

It is written in my listening that the place is uptill 18 people.

[Alice595]

@Miriam164 You will not be penalized to decline an inquiry. To reject a booking request, you are not penalized either until your acception rate is below 80%.

[Sarah977]

@Miriam164  If it is an Inquiry, rather than a booking request, you don't need to either pre-approve or decline- if you message the guest back, that counts as a response and you will receive no penalties or mark downs on anything. Just tell the guy that you can't acccept the number of guests he wants to book for and wish him luck to find another place that suits his needs.

You'll get messages from Airbnb prodding you to pre-approve, but you can ignore those. If you clear your cach, they'll go away.

[Miriam164]

Hi @Sarah977 thank you, it was a booking request so I'm not sure what to do.

[Sarah977]

@Miriam164  You can message the guest the same as I suggested above, and ask him to withdraw the request. Let him know that you have to either accept or decline within 24 hours (from the time you got the request), and that if you decline, you will recive penalties, so you will accept, but only on the condition that he books for no more than 18 and that if more show up they'll be turned away. And that if you accept it before he withdraws it, he'll have to cancel within 48 hours to get his $ back and wait up to 15 days for a refund..

Or just decline as long as long as you don't already have so many declines that it will hurt you.