I’m about to have to decline a second booking request this week from the same guest, purely because communication isn’t happening in a timely manner and I won’t take same day bookings (which is what this is pushing into). I’ve given them a deadline by which I need to hear back tonight (for tomorrow) - but with the way its been, I fully expect to receive no answer tonight and receive a new booking request tomorrow. I’m sure the cycle will repeat.
Am I being penalized as a host for declining multiple bookings? Is there a way to block a guest from continuing to send me requests?
Yes — declining too many requests can hurt you, because Peerspace tracks your conversion rate (how many of your inquiries turn into bookings). If you get a lot of inquiries but very few bookings, your visibility in search drops.
I deal with this all the time — guests send a request just to come for a scout, and then never show up. And the system still counts that against me. Honestly, I think this whole automated conversion tracking is a bit raw and doesn’t always reflect reality.
It’s not just about response time — they also factor in how often you accept vs. decline. Too many declines or expired requests signal to the algorithm that your space isn’t a good match for guests, so they show you less.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to block a guest from sending requests. The best move is to either pre-qualify quickly (ask the key questions right away so you can accept fast if it’s a fit) or encourage them to book instead of letting the request sit and expire.
The more you can keep your conversion rate healthy, the higher your listing will stay in search.
The guest wouldn’t answer/were evasive about answering all of my pre-qualifying questions, so I was eventually forced to decline the booking. And then the next day the process would start over again. They did send me one more (angry lol) request after this post (so 3x in a row), and I declined at that point as the entire thing seemed like a red flag. I ended up writing peerspace, and after they reviewed the message history they said I would not be penalized. Hopefully that is true
For those mentioning instant book. I ran into a big issue with it. I had instant book turned on but had to turn it off. People DID NOT read my rules. For film productions and major photo shoots, I require General Liability Insurance. After getting an instant book, I would inquire if they had or were willing to get General Liability Insurance. They would often say no. So, I either the customer or I would have to cancel the booking. I got tired of it.
Yes that’s my exact issue here. If the guest can’t confirm they understand your booking requirements prior to booking confirmation, I don’t see how instant book solves anything
I get some issues here too, but from a CJM standpoint, Instant Book is hard to ignore. Around 80% of my bookings come through Instant Book, and turning it off makes it much harder to stay competitive in search rankings.
So I don’t think the solution is removing Instant Book. It’s improving it.
Tier 2 – mid-size productions require insurance upload or confirmation of requirements before final approval.
Tier 3 – larger productions trigger a structured approval flow instead of full auto-confirm.
That way the platform keeps conversion high while protecting hosts operationally.
Peerspace allows to duplicate listings and you can see that in 1st page by “photoshoot” filter so make 3 listings
1 with Instant book with limited guests and rules and 2 without IB.
