Pre-approval Issues

[Diane440]

I've searched the forums for this topic and found most threads are at least 2 years old. I do understand the pre-approval vs instant book process (or so I thought) But lately I've had a few concerns and awkward moments related to using it carte blanche. One happened a few weeks ago with a drive by request to stay which I didn't see immediately but then responded with a pre-approval. A while later I learned the traveler was in a dead zone and didn't get my reply so booked elsewhere. A few weeks passed and he contacted me again saying he had been charged for the stay and asked for a refund. I checked and sure enough he had, though it had been lost in the shuffle of a few other payments from subsequent guests. So, since I had nothing ventured, nothing gained, I refunded my total portion. This past week, a brand new member with no reviews sent me an inquiry. I answered their question along with my concerns for housing a large family including teens and toddlers in my 2 bed/1bath space. I sent another follow up note after hearing  nothing to indicate I would pre-approve if they were interested. 

So, I've given this some thought, and from now on I won't pre-approve unless I have certainty that the potential guest is:

1) truly ready to book and  meets all requirements for standards and space allotment 

2) communicates wants and needs effectively and timely 

I'm planning to make that policy clear to every inquiry by:

1) answering questions in forthright friendly manner

2) making clear I will need a response within X number of hours or by X time/date in order to pre-approve

3) in the absence of a response by this time, I will assume they have booked other accommodations

I will also summarily ignore Airbnb's constant barrage of emails informing me I need to "pre-approve or cancel" and instead trust  my own business model on this. Because it does get ridiculous when we get these messages over a PM that was nothing more than a fellow host contacting us to talk shop. No! Sorry, Airbnb, my fellow host a few towns over who contacted me with personal question is not interested in booking as they have their own place to stay not far from where I live. See the problem? Am I right in approaching it this way? And do I need to respond to these algorithm emails to tell them "back off, already". Or just ignore/delete as I have been? What other ways have you all done to keep them from hounding you about "pre-approval or cancel" when really sometimes that's not the best practice and already a moot point? 

[Sarah977]

@Diane440  You have mentioned both Inquiries and Requests to Book in your post. It's important to understand the difference. When you receive an Inquiry, you have 3 choices- you can pre-approve it, decline it, or simply answer the Inquiry within 24 hours. Simply answering, without pre-approving or declining, fulfills your obligations. You will get messages from Airbnb prodding you to pre-approve, but you can safely ignore those, you won't be penalized. Even if you pre-approve an Inquiry, the guest has to actually act further to make the booking.

A Booking Request, on the other hand, has 2 choices- you either have to Accept (not pre-approve) or Decline within 24 hours. You are free to message with the guest without doing either of these, as long as you Accept or Decline within 24 hours, or manage to get the guest to withdraw the Request, if they are asking for something you don't allow, like bringing a pet, or wanting to book for more guests than you accommodate. If you accept a request, the guest's credit card is instantly charged, as with the guest you mention.

So, don't bother getting fussed about those messages to pre-approve an Inquiry- just ignore them. The Inquiry will expire after 24 hours and those messages will disappear if you clear your cache.