@Karin362 it's important to understand the difference between an Inquiry and a Booking Request. Simply responding to an Inquiry is sufficient- you don't need to Pre-Approve or Decline- just answer the guest within the 24 hour window. You can safely ignore the proddings from Airbnb to Pre-Approve or Decline.
A Booking Request is different- you do have to Approve or Decline within 24 hours.
So if you or the guest need more time to work things out and they've sent an Inquiry, no worries. (Except that if you use Instant Book, someone else could book those dates in the meantime, so you might want to shut off IB while this is in process). Then once things are worked out, tell the guest to now put in a Booking Request and you'll Approve it.
If they sent a Booking Request and need more time to work things out, upload ID, etc, and the 24 hour window is drawing near, ask them to withdraw the Request (explain you'll get penalized if you Decline), finish uploading their info, and then Request again.
