How to politely decline a guest?

[TracieandJason0]

Do any other hosts have a prompt used for declining guests they are uncomfortable with? When you decline a guest, Airbnb prompts you to state your reason why. 

My reasoning is usually I am uncomfortable with the way the guest messaged me but I don't want to actually tell them this of course. The guest usually comes across demanding and not properly introducing theirselves, etc. I don't want to just lie and state my dates are unavailable because we all know once I hit that decline, my booking will still appear available for those dates. 

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@TracieandJason0

They dont see the reason why - unless you tell them via a message why..... just decline and choose the most appropriate reason for doing so.

Only once have we replied to a guest and told them why we were unhappy hosting them: the requested to book, and when we said yes, they came back and started haggling. We said, sorry, you should really look for something in your budget - there are many other properties in the area that will suit. 

He then came back and apologised saying he thought it was ok to haggle - I said no.

Cutting a long story short, he stayed with someone we know and he got a glowing review. So...

[TracieandJason0]

@Gerry-And-Rashid0 Thanks for your advice. I actually just declined a guest. First airbnb asked why I was uncomfortable with the reservation request and that this response wouldn't be shared with them so I wrote why. THEN it asked me to leave a message for the host to better help them with future requests. So maybe it's different for my account but I see this as uncomfortable and burdening. Airbnb should be the one to give guests tips with how to politely word a reservation request. 

I just wrote "Hello, I am sorry but I cannot accommodate your reservation. Good luck with your booking!" 

I am wondering if any other hosts have a better or more polite response. I feel a bit brash in my response but I don't want to delve into detail. The guest was a new account with no reviews during a NYE holiday and was already requesting things from me and I hadn't even accepted the reservation yet. 

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@TracieandJason0

I honestly think what you have said is fine - you go with your gut feeling and you don't need to get into any further discussion witht the guest. I wouldn't be angry or hurt to get a message from a host saying they couldn;t accommodate and not provide a reason. 

[Phil-and-Dion0]

@Tracie12

I agree totally. We can get a pretty good feel from the photo, the stated purpose and the message content as to whether a parfticular guest would be a good fit.Sometimes when bookings are few we have ignored our feelings and accepted and have regretted it, but tobe faitr we were once pleasntly surprised.

Hower in general we feel that our odds are having a happy guest are greatly improved by taking the above factors in account.

[Nenet3]

I have the same concern, how to politely response to a booking request which I am not comfortable with specially the ones without a Zero reviews and just joined in at the time of their requested booking date without offending them but at same time I want to be truthful.

I haven't found an appropriate truthful response so I endes up saying the dates are no longer available the. i knoq what comes next, Airbnb will automatically blocked off the dates to my calendar.

i wonder what will happens if I unblocked after I decline the request will I be called off by Airbnb?