It has been quite a few years since this was posted, still an issue today for us.
A guest wants to book some date (that is already full). For example they want to book July 25th, they can't since it is already booked.
So they create a booking request for August 1st, in the comment field they say "I really want July 25th to celebrate my dog's birthday, can I book that date?"
AirBNB then forces us to request for decline.
I don't want to accept, the date is not available and we do not accept dogs.
I do not want to decline and get an penalty from Airbnb?
What is the correct way to deal with this situation?