requests before booking confirmed.

[Wendy67]

A person starting asking questions (which I was answering) before making a booking so I could not accept the booking yet. He did not reply until the next day and then I got a message from airbnb to say that I did not respond in time!!  I could not accept his booking untill he found out how many people it would be for and he had only contacted me through airbnb as one person booking.  It ended up that there would be 6 which I could not accommodate on the dates he chose.  Now it looks like I do not respond in time.  I wish I could email airbnb or explain to a human being!

[Ralf5]

Hello @Wendy67,

due to new airbnb rules since a few months, not only booking requests needs to be either accepted or declined within 24 hours, also "normal" inquiry messages need to be either pre-approved or declined within 24 hours. A simple answer will not be considered as answer valid to keep your response time up.

In cases similar to yours I usually pre-approve and then immediately remove the preapproval and send out a new pre-approval after the reservation data have been clearly communicated.

Also I already declined and lateron after facts have been cleared (various messages back and forth) I managed to send out a host offer, even if I previously declined....

[Sheilah1]

Hi Ralf,

I previously declined a booking and now have decided to accept them, how do I do this?

Danke!

Sheilah

[Ralf5]

Hi @Sheilah1,

you always need to use the @sign and then select the name from the list which shows up on the left side of the text field (after you scroll down a bit), this ensures that people know that you are addressing them directly.

In your case, try to go into messages, select the approriate message where you declined, and then there should be a button "send a host offer" or "send a pre-confirmation". If there is no button, I guess the guest needs to send a new inquiry/request.