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The one exception is if a person is really off and you REALLY do not want them to book, then you can decline the inquiry & they cannot request to book. I only just learned about this and wish I’d known because trying to cancel w/o penalty can be a drag when someone you tried to dissuade during inquiry sends a booking request anyway. Best is to block a date they want if you do it in time
I want to know who will be on my property, especially for reasons of liability or if something goes sideways legally or if there is something bad like a fire. But mine is a whole house listing. I have in my HRs that anyone on the property w/o our written permission is trespassing.
But if you decline an Inquiry or Decline a Request, it still registers as a decline on your Acceptance rate, I think. So if I’m correct about that, what does it matter which one you decline?
If they send a request because you didn’t decline the inquiry, why would you need to cancel? You just decline the request.
Below is a link to the best AirBNB sourced article that explains the difference that I’ve found. Here are some excerpt on Acceptance Rate:
“ Your acceptance rate measures how often you accept or decline reservations. Guest inquiries are not included in the calculation of your acceptance rate. ”
“Declining an inquiry signals to the guest that their needs aren’t a good fit for your space and encourages them to request another listing. But none of these actions directly affect your acceptance rate.”
The big focus seems to be on Response Rate and Acceptance of Booking Requests, as I read it.
Sure thing, @muddy But you see I still prefer the date block because I’m paranoid and don’t trust ABB isn’t secretly out to get me if I decline the inquiry
But it’s the whole “cannot make a booking request” that has me considering leaning toward trying it if needed (rare). Here’s a link on ABB where it says this for reference (mostly for me later )
But you see I still prefer the date block because I’m paranoid and don’t trust ABB isn’t secretly out to get me if I decline the inquiry 
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