That’s a common scam inquiry. I normally flag it through the messaging system @TognBee
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Did you have a checkout that day? What you describe is preparation time, but if you didn’t have a checkout that day, then what you actually meant is what @NordlingHouse said. You need a 1-day or 2-day advance notice.
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Sorry I am still rather confused you talk about both him making a request and you having to cancel the booking @justMandi
Was it a request or a booking?
As you know lots of guests don’t have their profiles set to receive messages automatically so personally I don’t agree with others on here who always ask the guest to cancel when you are in a last minute situation where their booking doesn’t meet your house rules, is a third party etc.
True. Plus requests block those days on the calendar. You have to either ask the guest to withdraw the request or call Air and say “I’m not comfortable with this guest.” Repeat as needed.
Brian is correct. 1 day prep time blocks a day between reservations. So if you don’t have a booking on the 3rd, and don’t have one on the 5th, someone can still book same-day for the 4th. Advance notice is the setting you want for no same-day reservations. I have mine set to 2 days because I have a lot on the go aside from Airbnb and need to plan and clean.
But I also have mine set to 2 days’ notice and I’m still getting requests!
Also with 1 night preparation before and after reservations!
That sounds like a glitch, then. I would try turning off both settings, then turning them back on again.
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I have had to call them about eight times to cancel bookings they allowed on days I have blocked out 
Thanks Brian - I’ll try that and await developments!
I don’t see how this will make bookings easier for me. People don’t read and nothing will make them happier simply booking their 150 guests wedding for $600 a night or the commercial people who wants to use the house for 3 days of shooting for the cost of a night’s stay.
Probably won’t work here.
I NEVER decline an inquiry. Write back and say sorry, no event or no discount or no extra Rotweilers…then wait under 24 hours from the request and APPROVE the booking.
Get it…deny request but approve booking…they will have moved on before you approve. You have done everything in the time frame ABNB requires. I do ths all the time.
Not sure I would do that. Once you’ve responded to an enquiry it stops the response time clock and you don’t need to do anything else. If a guest doesn’t do anything further it expires.
By approving it, you may end up with someone deciding to actually go ahead with the booking. You’ve then got the grief of having to get it cancelled.
JF
That was my thought, too, @JohnF. No reason to approve at all after responding. That would be risky—and for no reason.
I did not know that! I operate under the I told you no, so they wont book.
Thats worked for years, but now I can save myself some typing.
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Well, you’ll still need to type a message back to them to fulfill the response time stat, but you don’t need to either pre-approve or decline an Inquiry.
As others have detailed, AirBnB likes to have multiple “transactional” records of your interaction, in part because they’re a rather large bureaucracy, that often tries multiple ways to do the same things, and forgets to remove the ones that don’t work.
Don’t sweat the ACCEPT/DECLINE decision. AirBnB keeps track of when and if you respond, but the ACCEPT/DECLINE algorithm persists to send you messages. No matter the reason, I would recommend to NEVER ACCEPT/DECLINE and let the guest make the decision.
In over 100 stays, I haven’t had a guest who persisted for more than two interactions. Once or twice I even suggested they book with my local “competitors” in the same price range, and I looked up a couple for them.
I’m guessing AirBnB doesn’t even have a clean way of distinguishing between guests who were denied, and those that chose someone else after a polite explanation from the host.
Respond to inquiry within 24 hours to keep your response time up.
Do not decline an inquiry, just respond then let it expire after 2 weeks.
If you don’t respond to an inquiry, it’ll affect your stats.
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Just an fyi - the inquiry will expire only after the booking time for the inquiry, not after 2 weeks.
Unless AirBnB changed something recently, your average response time is based on your initial reply to the guest, not when you approve the request to book.