Polite decline when a stay does not fit
Send a decline as soon as you know the stay does not fit, so the guest can look at other homes.
Main text
{Guest name}, I cannot host {Requested dates} at {Property name}.
The listing limit is {Listing limit}. I am not able to make an exception for this trip.
I hope the dates work out somewhere that fits. No need to reply.
The dates are not open
{Guest name}, {Requested dates} are not open at {Property name}.
The listing limit is {Listing limit}. I will not be able to shift those nights.
Thank you for asking. I hope you find a place that is free for the trip.
The group is larger than the listing
{Guest name}, I cannot accept {Requested dates} at {Property name}.
The cap on the listing is {Listing limit}, and this group is over it. I cannot raise it for one stay.
Thank you for the detail on the group. Another home with a higher cap will be a better fit.
When to send
Send a decline when you have decided the stay cannot happen. The decision is usually one of three things: {requested_dates} are blocked, the group is over the published cap, or a rule already on the listing makes the trip a mismatch, such as a pet the listing does not allow. Put that reason in {listing_limit} as a phrase, such as “four overnight guests” or “no pets”. “It just will not work” makes people argue. “The listing allows four overnight guests and this request is for six” lets them move on.
{guest_name} and {property_name} keep the note tied to the right inquiry. Use the dates-closed variant when the only problem is the calendar. Use the over-capacity variant when the home could take the nights but not the group. The main text is the one to edit when the reason is a published rule that is neither of those, with the rule written into {listing_limit}.
Do not send a decline that leaves a side door open. “Unless you can make it just the two of you” is a second negotiation. If you would accept a different shape of trip, say the shape once, as a fact from the listing, and then stop. If you would not, the template’s last line is enough.
Timing tip
Send it the hour you know, especially when {requested_dates} are soon. A delayed no is how guests lose a weekend. A same-day inquiry deserves a same-day decline. A trip that is half a year away can wait until you have checked the calendar properly, but it should not wait a week while you hope a nicer way to say no appears.
If you are declining because you have not finished a repair, say the repair only if it is the real reason and it is already something a guest would see on the calendar as a block. Do not invent a broken boiler to avoid a guest you simply do not want. The listing limit is the honest reason. Put that phrase in {listing_limit}, and skip the story.
Common mistakes
Inventing a rule at the moment of the no is the serious mistake. If the listing allows pets and you decline a pet stay because you changed your mind last week, the guest is hearing a term they could not have read. Update the listing before the next inquiry. For this one, own the mismatch without pretending the listing already said it, or accept the stay under the terms you published.
A long apology makes the no feel unfinished. Two sentences of regret and a paragraph of biography invite a debate. Thank them once. Name the phrase in {listing_limit}, then stop.
The third mistake is a partial yes. Pre-approving some of {requested_dates} and declining the rest, inside one muddy note, leaves them unsure what to request. If you can do different nights, send those nights as their own sentence and let them choose. Do not mix that offer into the over-capacity variant. A group that is too large is not fixed by moving the weekend.
After it is sent
Do not follow a decline with a discount. A lower price does not change a calendar block or a guest cap, and it teaches people that the first no is a bargaining position. If the dates later open and you truly want to write again, that is a new message with the new fact. Leave this one as the no.
Archive or leave the thread, whichever the booking site allows, so you do not reply a second time out of habit. One clear answer is the whole job of this template.