This is not true (yet, we will see if it changes things when they start holding it). I rent a private room for $36/night (with a $20 cleaning fee) and have a $500 deposit.
Point taken… let me say that in my area anyone who has more than a $100 deposit has a low occupancy in my location.
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What I don’t like is the cancellation up to 36 hours before check in. Why can’t they get the “deposit hold” authorization at time of booking in full? ps mine is high.
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Recent post—I can’t find it—host stating Airbnb not able to place a hold on the guest’s credit card for her $1,000 security deposit had caused last minute cancellations. Several (including me) stated we didn’t know Airbnb did that. Maybe she was a test market or among the first for the Airbnb change.
Bottom line, if your guest doesn’t have credit card funds avalable, the reservation can cancel.
I’m rethinking my security deposit to be one night’s rent instead of my current $200. I can rebook if I have a week’s notice but a last minute cancellation of less than 72 hours, I probably won’t be able to rebook.
A high security deposit will cost me rental revenue. In 4 years, I’ve never filed a claim so I’m going low to preserve rentals.
This thread
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The Airbnb email I was sent, stated that it WILL pre authorise my security deposit- and for me to check the amount I am setting (and then they will cancel the booking and refund guest if not paid 36 hrs before arrival). I currently have a security deposit of £800.
The new article in the host help centre says it WILL NOT pre authorise host-required security deposits, (only airbnb-required security deposits, which they will set themselves)
The two are obviously contradictory and I can’t get a proper answer from support staff.
I can’t risk losing a booking (and a few thousand pounds because it is a large property sleeping 18) through lack of authorisation of a deposit so close to arrival date. I can’t even make a decision about keeping my listing on Airbnb because the information they’re providing is contradictory and support staff are none the wiser. Is anyone else clearer about the new policy?
You’re right, @tflute, the article quite clearly states that Airbnb will place a hold only when they set the amount, not when the host sets the amount.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits
There are so many things in that article to irritate both hosts and guests.
My guess is that they are trying to limit payouts from the host guarantee by pushing the responsibility onto the guests (where it belongs) for things that they flag are high risk, such as short-notice/same-day bookings, amenities like a hot tub, and hopefully, guests that were the cause of previous payouts.
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I have read that they are not collecting. They are getting authorization. To be discovered what happens.
And if the pre authorisation doesn’t go through, Airbnb will cancel the booking and refund the guest. The host won’t receive a penny.
@Theresa_Duthie-Jacks Sounds like a good way for guest to ensure a 100% refund within 36 hours of checkin
This has made me totally re-think even using Air BnB as I imagine many others will also.
Airbnb’s reply: “Thank U, next!”
The supply of hosts exceeds the supply of guests so they can really afford to burn and churn.
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You are correct, Brian: This is the thing that makes this not a problem for hosts!
Host-required security deposits
Some hosts require a security deposit for their listing. If you’re a guest and you’re booking a listing with a host-required security deposit, you’ll be shown this amount before you make your reservation. The amount is set by the host, not Airbnb. In this case, no authorization hold will be placed, and you’ll only be charged if a host makes a claim on the security deposit.
Host-required security deposits
Some hosts require a security deposit for their listing. If you’re a guest and you’re booking a listing with a host-required security deposit, you’ll be shown this amount before you make your reservation. The amount is set by the host, not Airbnb. In this case, no authorization hold will be placed, and you’ll only be charged if a host makes a claim on the security deposit.
Best not to repeat the ‘community’ nonsense. We are all business people as are AirB&B. They may sit around on bean bags in t-shirts but they are a ruthless business.
I believe that its about:
- Making money on the deposit by floating all the world-wide deposits on the stock exchange while they have them! Which will be millions every day!
- Coercing business owners to keep the damage deposit as low as possible otherwise guests may use other properties.
- Coercing businesses to NOT make claims for damages, as their damage deposit will be increased making them; again less competitive!
The owners always end up worse off with every change they make.
I have looked at not using them!! Does anyone have any evidence that we can do it without AirB&B.
I would like to hear from you.
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Of course people can rent their property without Airbnb, it’s been done forever. The question is, what kind of rental business do you have. What Airbnb created was a platform to easily bring together people with space in their home and people who needed a place to stay short term. No need to make a website, advertise, draw up contracts, etc. Just snap a few pics, write some text and add your banking info. Boom, you’re “in business.” If, like me, you are renting out a room in a home there is no viable competitor. If you have a guest house, a basement apartment, the top floor of your home, the other side of a duplex, Airbnb is really the way to go. If you have an entire stand alone vacation rental home then VRBO is a viable competitor. You can make your own website and do your own promotion. In some markets booking dot com seems to be a strong competitor. But for most hosts without Airbnb they have no business. And people like to complain about them but the reality is they created the business, they own the platform, they have first mover advantage and at this time they are dominant in the space (and they want to dominate other spaces).
This is just anecdotal evidence but here is one guys story of being thrown off Airbnb and the effect it had. I’ve linked the concluding post but you might want to read the whole thing. After being off Airbnb the poster says "*But without them. We struggled so much. They represent 7 bookings for everyone we get else where. We even joke. If a Airbnb client wants to punch a hole in the wall. Give them a hammer."
I have a security deposit as a deterrent to would-be baddies. I don’t know how it works and don’t care because It’s never been needed. But sticking my cheap and cheerful guests with a $150 bill before stepping in my home would put anybody off.
They don’t make any money by placing holds on an account.
From what I can tell, nothing changes for hosts that already have security deposits set. The changes are for hosts that did not have a security deposit and there are some factors for which Airbnb thinks a deposit is warranted. What is annoying is that they are not totally transparent about exactly what those factors are or how they calculate the amount (probably because they want to be able to make changes over time without telling us what they are). Still, any host that wants things to work as close as possible to the way they did before can just set their deposit amount to the lowest amount Airbnb allows.
I’m kinda thinking this might be a positive. People that don’t have enough available credit to allow the deposit hold are people that have high credit utilization (not a 100% guarantee, but extremely likely), and the high weight of credit utilization means those people usually don’t have great credit scores. A long time ago the insurance industry discovered a correlation between lower credit scores and the risk of both real and fraudulent insurance claims. So, if Airbnb cancels a reservation because a guest didn’t have the available credit for the deposit. The host might be dodging a bullet. Maybe.
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Lost of hosts complain every time there’s a change, but from what I see, Airbnb’s constant changes aren’t intended to be malicious toward hosts or guests. They are intended to reduce Airbnb’s costs, though, and it seems like they just keep trying different things to see what works while doing the best they can to not alienate hosts and guests. Basically, they’re “winging it” most of the time.
I don’t think they’re evil. I think they’re constantly flailing. Their strategies never seem to be well-planned nor well-executed. No, I won’t be buying their stock after their IPO.
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