@Colleen253 Not exactly. The video is pretty good, but I think the screens and words ABB uses have changed so it's not that helpful.
I received two requests in the last day. I've called Airbnb the people I'm speaking to English is not there first language so I'm having a hard time communicating with them. This is all about being dinged by Airbnb for not accepting guests who are breaking the house rules. They have threatened to suspend my account, yet I have guests booked solid for the next two and a half months.
When a guest sends a message, they select the dates and that request comes to me a Pre-Approval with the dates blocked of in my calendar. Airbnb will then send me emails and text messages telling me to Approve or Decline the request. When really all I need to do is message the guest. I learned this from you, if I reply to the message within 24 hrs I'm not dinged. If I do nothing else the booking in the calendar drops off and I am not dinged. If I Decline I am not dinged. I could ask the guest to withdraw the request. If the guest withdraws the request the blocked dates in my calendar are cleared and I am not dinged.
But if the guests requests a reservation Airbnb calls this a "Trip Requested" vs "Pre-Approved". This is an actual booking request. I have 24 hrs to Accept of Decline. If I Decline for any reason I'm dinged. The only way I could get out of a Trip Request would be to ask the guest to cancel the booking request.
The text that Airbnb uses is confusing. "Accept if you can host, or decline if these dates don’t work for you." What they really mean is "Accept if you can host, or decline if these dates don’t work for you and you will get dinged. With 3-5 dings we will suspend your account.