Responding to Inquiry, Why does it say "Accept or Decline" in the message?

[Bob39]

A potential guest asked me a question about staying. I responded to his inquiry within a minute or two. But I did not pre-approve or decline. I simply answered his question. He has not sent a reservation request.

In my Inbox, his message is highlighted in red instead of the normal black used for most messages. And it says "Accept or Decline" below his name. And at the end of the conversation thread there is a "Pre-approve or Decline" button.

But all he did was inquire; he did not send a reservation request. Am I safe in ignoring that red "Pre-approve or Decline" button? Or if I ignore it, does AirBnB penalize me somehow or does it affect my response rate? Will that button go away at some point?

Why does it say "Accept or Decline" in the message list but "Pre-Approve or Decline" in the message itself? The word "Accept" seems to imply that a reservation request was sent.

[Christine615]

Since you told the guest you were fine with his questions go ahead and pre-approve. But decline Airbnb’s next suggestion to block the dates. That keeps the dates open for other people who might be interested but signals to the original guest you are interested in hosting them.

If the guest doesn’t book within 1-2 days Airbnb will let the request expire with no penalty to you.

[Bob39]

OK, thank you for your reply.  The fact that it says "Accept" in the Inbox is confusing. It leads me to believe that a request was sent, while in fact no request was sent.

[Emiel1]

@Bob39,

Seems to me a glitch in the app software, it clearly states "inquiry", which normally has only the options "pre-approve" and "decline" (or just do nothing after aswerring the question).

[Bob39]

OK thank you Emiel. If I do nothing, there is no penalty? There is no clock ticking.

[Kean3]

I have the same problem here.  I received an inquiry with a message "Hi" in the chat box.  When I checked for the details on the guest, there is no profile picture nor where the guest is from.  My gut feeling is to declined since this guest is not providing any information nor responde to 3 of my messages.  If I decline, will there be any penalty or negative effect to my earning superhost status?  Please help as I have another 1 hours before the deadline to accept or decline.  Thank you.

[Kean3]

[John1080]

@Kean3 In your case, is there a clock ticking down? Usually with a request, there clock is there and we hosts have 24 hours to either accept or deny. Typically for an inquiry, there is no such clock.

It seems in @Bob39 's case, for some reason there is an anomaly and he is being forced to accept or decline an inquiry.  

If you do not have a clock ticking down, you don't have to do anything further and simply ignore/archive the message. If, however there is that clock, you need to accept or deny. In this case, I would deny the person, because I've found that poor communication at the beginning is often a sign of worse things to come from the said guest. 

[Kean3]

Thank you John for your fast response.  In my case, there is a clock ticking.  As per your advise and my gut feeling, I will decline this guest.   Thank you and have a blessed week ahead.

[Kean3]

[Kean3]

Hi John, refering to the above pic, which category should I choose in my case?  May I know who will see this message?  The guest or AirBnB?

[Emiel1]

Hello,

@Kean3

If you don't want the guest, then you have to decline, choose as reason for declining "feeling uncomfortable". After that you have to write some more info, just mention the facts (not answerring messages, incomplete profile). Only if you decline too much it wil effect your "acceptance" rating, which is part of earnings to become superhost. You can find the actual value of all rating(s) in your "progress" section.

Best regards

[Kean3]

Thank you Emiel.  I will do as advise by you.  Thank you and have a blessed week.