You should always respond to booking requests, regardless of whether you accept or decline them. This is part of PaulCamper's philosophy of transparent and fair interaction. This also helps renters to plan ahead.
You have 48 hours to respond to a booking request and to contact the renter. Replying to requests within this time period will improve your response rate and time.
Top tip: Owners with a response rate of under 3 hours have more confirmed bookings. So responding to requests quickly increases your success rate!