A booking inquiry is a message from a guest typically asking a question about a future reservation. Guests who send an inquiry have not yet committed to making a booking. A request to book is different: the guest has asked to book specific dates and is waiting for you to accept or decline.
Responding to an inquiry or request from Host Tools
When a guest is waiting on an answer, the reservation actions menu lists it at the top. Open the thread in your inbox and tap the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header, or open the reservation details and use its menu. The same items appear on desktop, on narrow screens, and in the mobile app.
Pre-approve — on an Airbnb or Vrbo inquiry. The guest can book the dates straight away. Vrbo needs a message to the guest, which is sent with the pre-approval.
Accept or Decline — on an Airbnb request to book.
Approve or Decline — on a Booking.com request to book.
Each item opens a short confirmation. When you decline, the channel asks for a reason: Airbnb also needs a message to the guest and lets you add a private note for Airbnb; Booking.com only asks for an explanation when the reason is that you are not comfortable with the booking (up to 255 characters, never shown to the guest).
After you confirm, the items disappear from the menu and the reservation updates once the channel confirms your answer. Vrbo requests to book are still answered on Vrbo.
Sending a special offer
On an Airbnb or Vrbo inquiry, the same menu has a Special offer item under Pre-approve. It stays available after a pre-approval, since an offer can change the price the guest was pre-approved at. The form is prefilled with the inquiry's dates and guests; enter the total price for the stay (rent plus cleaning and other fees, before taxes and the channel's guest fee). Airbnb takes whole-number prices only and no message; Vrbo lets you add a message to the guest. Booking.com has no special offers.
Special offers are sent from the web app. In the mobile app the item is not shown yet.
[SCREENSHOT: the Special offer form prefilled with an inquiry's dates and guest count]
💡 These items only show for team members whose role can edit reservations in full.
How long inquiries are kept
An inquiry that never becomes a booking is removed from Host Tools one year after the last activity on its thread. Threads that show No dates selected — a guest question that arrived without check-in and check-out dates — are removed on the same schedule.
Activity means the most recent message in the thread, so an older inquiry a guest has written in recently stays in your inbox. Confirmed and cancelled reservations are kept far longer and are unaffected.