Guest Inquiries (Submit an Inquiry Button)

Every Haven listing starts with a Submit an Inquiry button next to the main booking button, whether the listing uses Instant Book or Request to book. Guests who aren't ready to book can send you a question first, with their dates if they have them and without if they don't. No payment is taken and no dates are held. You can hide the button on any listing if you would rather guests book or use your contact form.

So guests always have two paths on your listing:

The booking button, which follows your booking setting: Book now (Instant Book) or Request booking (Request to book)
Submit an Inquiry, which sends you a message about their dates

You choose Instant Book or Request to book for each listing. The inquiry button is not a third booking mode. It sits beside whichever mode you pick, and has its own on/off switch.

Hiding the Inquiry Button

Some hosts would rather guests either book or get in touch through the contact form. Turn the button off and the booking bar, the booking card and the booking widget show only the booking button.

One listing: open the listing's Calendar → Availability tab and switch off Inquiry button, directly under Instant book. It saves as you go, and the copy button beside the title copies the choice to your other listings.
All listings: Sites → Listing settings → Booking → Inquiry button. Tick the listings (or all of them) and Edit settings, or edit one cell. Listings you add later start with the button shown.

With the button hidden, guests still reach you through the Contact section or page on your site (see Contact Information); those messages arrive as inquiry threads in Communication just the same. Nothing changes for inquiries you already have, and inquiries from Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com guests still come through your channel connection. Haven can answer those automatically in the guest's booking thread with your own "We got your request" message: see Auto-reply to new inquiries.

When Guests Use an Inquiry

They have a question before booking (parking, pets, early check-in, a group or event)
They want to check whether you'll consider dates that don't fit your stay rules
They want a quote or a discount before paying
Your listing is on Instant Book, but they would rather talk to you first

What the Guest Sees

Dates are encouraged, not required.

With dates:

On your listing, the guest picks check-in and check-out dates and the number of guests.
They click Submit an Inquiry (on the booking card the button reads Inquire).
They write their message and send it.
Haven confirms the message reached you. There is no checkout and no charge.

Because an inquiry holds nothing, the guest can book those dates whenever they're still open. Their guest portal, their Trips page, the inquiry emails, and the guest portal assistant all show a Book these dates button. It opens your listing with their dates and party already filled in. The guest portal marks the stay as an Inquiry, not "Awaiting host", because they aren't waiting on you to book.

Without dates:

The guest clicks Submit an Inquiry (or Inquire) before picking any dates.
An Ask about this stay sheet opens. At the top it says hosts answer fastest with dates and offers Add dates, which takes them back to the calendar. They can also carry on without dates.
They enter their name and email (filled in already if they're signed in), their message, and optionally a rough timing ("a week in June, flexible") and how many guests.
They send. Haven shows "Your inquiry is on its way" and emails them that it reached you.

What Happens on Your Side

You're notified. The inquiry arrives by email at your notification addresses and shows up as a thread under Communication with the guest's dates and party size. An inquiry sent without dates says No dates yet beside the listing name in the thread, carries the guest's rough timing and party size under their message, and its email reads "Dates: Not chosen yet". Its button opens that thread.
It's in your Calendar inbox too. Reservations & Inbox → Inbox lists a Guest inquiry card for each one, and Respond opens it in a side sheet. A dated inquiry opens its reservation. One without dates reads No dates yet and opens the inquiry sheet: the guest's question, What would they pay? and the conversation with a reply box. The card for an inquiry without dates clears once you read the thread.
A note if it waits a day. If you haven't replied to an inquiry with dates a day after it came in, Kate, Haven's founder, emails you once from her own address so the guest isn't left waiting. Any reply you write in the thread before then means no email.
Nothing is booked. The dates stay open. Inquiries never hold dates, even if you turned on holding dates for pending requests.
It never expires. Auto-expire only cancels booking requests, never inquiries.
Sales pitches are filtered out. Inquiries trying to sell you something (SEO, websites, marketing, software, paid TV or magazine features, influencers asking for free stays) skip your inbox and wait in Messages → Filtered, with one email to tell you. They never become a request and never hold dates. See Filtered messages and Contact Information for what's filtered and what always comes through.

How to Respond to an Inquiry

Open the thread in Communication, or the inquiry from Reservations & Inbox → Inbox, and choose one. The reservation's Guest inquiry box shows What {guest} pays: the total checkout charges the guest if you pre-approve the stay as it stands, every fee, discount and tax included. Click it for each line and night. You will make, further down, is your payout, so the two figures differ when the guest pays a fee you don't receive. Replying and messaging need a paid plan: on Free, Send asks you to subscribe instead (see Subscription & Billing).

Message the guest. The inquiry's conversation sits in the reservation panel and in Communication → Inbox, the same thread you get on a booking request. Write there as often as you like, before and after you reply or pre-approve. Each message is emailed to the guest, and their replies land in the same thread.
Reply. Answer the question. The inquiry stays open, and the guest's reply email has a Book these dates button that takes them to your normal booking flow.
Send and pre-approve. In the same reply box, send your answer and pre-approve the guest in one step. Use this when your answer is yes, even "yes, at the listed price". It works the same way as Pre-approve below, with your reply as the message.
Pre-approve. Haven holds those nights for the guest and emails them a link to pay for that stay directly, with your optional message and discount code already applied at checkout. On a Request to book listing they don't have to send a second request.
Send payment link. Hold the nights and send the guest a link to pay, with the dates and price you choose. From the reservation or from the thread header in Communication, the dialog opens on the dates the guest asked about, with your suggested rate already filled in, and converts the inquiry into the held stay. You can change the dates before sending. If the dates you pick are already covered by another booking or hold, the dialog says so. The dialog's Special offer row takes money off under a name the guest sees. See Send a Payment Link.
Adjust price or fees. Offer a percentage off, an amount off, or new nightly rates for the dates they asked about. Applying it pre-approves the guest at the new total, so the link they get charges the price you set. See Offer a Discount or Change the Price.

Whichever you choose, the reservation stays one click away. The button with the stay's dates in the thread header opens it, so you can check what you quoted or change the price until the guest has paid. If a guest sends a question from your contact form and later requests or books that listing, the same button appears on the original conversation too.

Inquiries without dates

An inquiry sent without dates, or a message from your contact form, has no reservation yet, so there is nothing to pre-approve or re-price. Open the thread in Communication, or click Respond on its card in Reservations & Inbox → Inbox to open the inquiry sheet, and choose one:

Check what they'd pay. Under the thread header, or beside the conversation in the inquiry sheet, What would they pay? (with the guest's first name) prices any dates and party size the way checkout charges a guest: each night's rate, your fees, any discounts and every tax, ending on the total the guest pays. If your listing shows prices before taxes, the card also gives the lower figure guests see there. A discount code, gift card or loyalty points the guest applies come off at checkout. A badge says whether the guest could book those dates themselves, and if not, why (already booked, under your minimum stay, past your booking window). Click the total to see each line and night. Add to reply puts the full breakdown in your reply box to edit and send. Send quote opens the Send dates & a quote dialog on those dates. Nothing is held until you send a quote.
Reply. Answer by email from the thread. Ask for dates, or suggest some.
Send dates & quote. The button in the thread header opens the Send dates & a quote dialog with the guest and listing filled in and an empty calendar. Pick the dates and the price, add a Special offer if you like, and send. The nights are held, the guest gets a link to pay, and the thread becomes that reservation's thread. See Send a Payment Link.

You can also ask the Haven assistant, for example "what would Oct 7–11 at Oyster House cost for 4 guests, all in?". It prices the stay the same way, taxes included.

The guest's confirmation email is the Inquiry submitted (no dates) message under Communication → Message automations → Inquiry. You can edit its wording or switch it off.

There's no penalty for not accepting an inquiry. See Your property, your rules.

Instant Book, Request to Book, and Inquiries Together

Guest action	Payment	Dates held	Your step
Book now (Instant)	Charged at checkout	Yes, once paid	None
Request booking	After you approve	Only if you hold dates for requests	Approve or decline
Submit an Inquiry	None	No (yes once you pre-approve)	Reply, pre-approve, or send a payment link
Inquiry, no dates	None	No (yes once you send a quote)	Reply, or send dates & a quote

A listing set to Instant Book still takes inquiries. A listing set to Request to book still takes inquiries. If you want guests to be able to book on the spot and ask questions first, use Instant Book: the inquiry button covers the guests who want to talk to you first. If you want guests to book or use the contact form only, hide the button.