Accept or decline a request — and what happens next

When a request lands, you have one decision to make: accept or decline. Both are valid — the difference is in how you handle each.

Accepting

Open the request in Bookings and click Accept.

What happens immediately:

The booking moves to its payment state.
If the resident has a card on file, the first instalment is captured. Otherwise the booking sits in pending payment until they pay.
The resident receives a confirmation and (if configured) your check-in instructions.
Once payment clears, the booking is confirmed and the room is held on your calendar.

What you should do next:

Welcome message in the Inbox. Confirm address, arrival window, and key plan. See Welcome message templates that set expectations.
Update team members who'll handle the resident.
Schedule the cleaning / prep so the room is ready well before arrival.

Declining

Open the request and click Decline. You're prompted to pick a preset reason (the platform offers several common ones like price wrong, no availability, profile incomplete). You can add a short note.

The resident sees the reason and your note. A respectful decline:

Helps the resident find a better fit faster.
Preserves your reputation even with people you didn't host.
Avoids the appearance of a discriminatory decline.

Examples of useful decline notes

"Those dates are held for a longer booking we're finalising."
"Your stay is shorter than the 90-day minimum we usually take — happy to chat if you can extend."
"Sounds like you'd love something more social than what we offer; have you tried [other type of place]?"

When the dates don't work but the resident does

Decline with a note suggesting alternative dates:

"Those dates are taken, but I have availability from May 15 — feel free to resubmit a request for those dates."

What you can't do from the UI

Accept partially — multi-room requests are accepted as a whole. If you'd take some rooms but not others, message and ask the resident to resubmit.
Cancel a confirmed booking — that goes through support, not a self-service action.
Attach conditions to your acceptance — once accepted, the booking terms are what's in the listing.

What you should never do

Wait for the request to expire instead of deciding — missed requests count worse than declines.
Decline based on a protected category — age, gender, religion, race, etc. Doing so can lose your account.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can I attach a deposit-on-arrival condition to my acceptance? A: No — what's in the listing applies. If you want a custom condition, mention it in the Inbox; the resident decides whether to proceed.

Q: I declined by mistake. Can I undo? A: No. Ask the resident to resubmit the request.

Q: Can I see how my acceptance rate is affected? A: Yes, in Performance review.