Lots of Inquiries, No Follow-Through

[Tim4881]

I am new to Airbnb. I have my first guests coming May 16-18. I have been getting lots of inquiries from "new" people who either have never booked Airbnb or lack profile data. Is that normal? I declined someone who asked if they "got the entire place to themselves" I responded back that no, this is a working farm and we are here 24/7. I never got a response after that. Airbnb kept sending messages to me to pre-approve or offer a discount. Why would I do that if the person ghosts me and I never get a valid request for a booking that I can confirm? I really want to be a good host, but I have had many issues trying to get this enterprise started. Especially the linked calendar function. I just retired from a 40 year IT career, and the fact that you cannot have sublistings updated for linked calendars makes no sense to me. If you have to manually block dates for each calendar, why have linked calendars in the first place? This issue caused a major headache as I never confirmed a booking and my main listing stated I wouldn't accept any bookings until May 1st. They showed up April 1st while I was out of town since our daughter had a new baby. I messaged them immediately saying I coundn't accomodate them, but the gentleman said he didn't read the message until they were already onsite. I know this because I have footage from my Ring doorbell camera that they were physically here. Like I said, I really want to be a good host and will do whatever I can to make people feel at home during their stay. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Helen3]

As in any business it's common to get lots of inquiries that don't turn into a sale @Tim4881 

The more comprehensive your listing the less likely you are to receive inquiries about facilities not available at your listing .

some will be scammers, some time wasters etc

airbnb uses AI tools hence why you keep getting requests from them just ignore them .

if it's an inquiry you don't need to decline - just respond . 

you can use  PMS software to avoid double bookings .