@Bronwyn60 I would suggest you go to the Hosting Help pages in your host account and start reading all the articles and explanations there. There's so much to understand and familiarize yourself with- it can be a big learning curve.
You couldn't have "preapproved" a "reservation". There are 3 things a guest can do- Instant Book, which some hosts use and others don't, which allows a guest to book without contacting you first, sending an "Inquiry" which they may do if they have some questions they'd like answered or just want to get a feel for the host they'll be dealing with before committing and for which they may enter dates that they don't actually want, but it's a requirement to enter dates, and "Booking Requests".
An Inquiry can be pre-approved or declined or simply responded to-if you answer within 24 hours, you won't be penalized for not clicking on pre-approve or decline, altho Airbnb will keep sending messages asking you to pre-approve (you can ignore those). Declining too many Inquiries or Requests can lead to Airbnb suspending your listing, so on Inquiries, never decline, just aswer. Pre-approve if you feel comfortable accepting them. Just because you pre-approve an Inquiry doesn't mean that person will go on to book- they may have sent out 10 Inquiries, just testing the waters.
A Booking Request is someone actually asking to stay (although some may unknowingly use these to just ask questions.).and you do have to either "Accept" or "Decline" within 24 hours, but you can message with the guest first before doing so.
An Instant Book is of course Instant- they book it, are charged for it and the reservation is confirmed. This will take precedence over an Inquiry you've pre-approved, or a Request you are planning to accept. In other words, first come, first served.
