@Kim37 Here's a response that I wrote to a very similar question yesterday. Hope it helps!
"Hi @Nicole, it is very important that hosts and guests, especially hosts, understand the difference between a Booking Inquiry and a Booking Request as the response rate is determined differently.
A Booking Inquiry is a way for guests to shop around and ask questions before commiting to a reservation. Airbnb encourages guests to make multiple booking inquiries to ask about availability, pricing, amenities and the like. Kind of like someone looking at various websites like Walmart, Amazon and so forth to find just the right vacuum cleaner. Simply responding to the questions, sending a Pre-Approval or Special offer constitutes a response. I've responded to many inquiries that ultimately went no where, but I responded quickly. If the guest never gets back to you, fine, you've done your part.
A Booking Request is from a guest that is ready, willing and able to make a reservation now. Or, at least that's what it is supposed to be.
In order to keep a good response rate, you need to accept or decline in a timely manner so the guest knows where they stand. Unfortunately, many guests don't realize that making a Booking Request is not the way to ask questions or inquiries. I had a guest, a Super Host no less, make a Booking Request and then proceeded to ask a lot of question which ultimately ended with "I'll need to talk to my brother". What?? Meantime, in the course of answering the many questions, the clock countdown was still going on until I accepted or declined. What to do? I informed this guest that she should cancel the request (getting me off the hook) and make another request later if she and her brother were in agreement. Likewise I recently had a guest that made a booking request that initially never answered my questions. I had to decline to keep my response rate up. After we got the communications sorted out, she submitted another Booking Request which I accepted.
You, as the host, need to be very clear in what kind of communication the guest is sending you. Even though a guest may be asking many questions in a Booking Request (which they should do in a Booking Inquiry) just answering the question doesn't satisfy the reponse rate requirements. You need to decide based on the information you get back (or don't get back) from the guest whether or not to accept the reservation as I described above.
I can see where this gets confusing, but if you are careful to know the difference between a Booking Inquiry and a Booking Request, you'll know how to respond appropriately to keep your response rate up. "
