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Have you had this experience? I had a family of 4 and a dog stay for 6 nights but only booked 2 adults. They had inquired the day before with 2 adults and 1 pet but were waiting on some sort of refund to book. They ended up booking and checking in at 9pm the next night. However when I inquired about them finding someone to take the dog they ended up paying me directly for the pet fee (I offered half refundable) to save on Airbnb fees.
Then after checking in I discovered they had 2 kids with them and so they eventually said they would pay me directly, again to save on Airbnb fees. However, that never came to fruition and although super sweet sounding in messages, giving excuses of family needing to wire the money since they used their savings up since Hurricane Beryl prevented them from living in their house. Every day insisted she would send it. âI give you my word that it will be sent expeditiously.â I messaged letting her know that if it wasnât received by the end did the reservation time (which was later than they actually left) that Airbnb would address it at full price. But once checked out not another word or response.
I have resubmitted requests for help through Airbnb since the change request also went unanswered and they responded that since there was no proper documentation that they would just send me half of the amount ($300) as a goodwill gesture. I responded that there is plenty of documentation! Since the CS rep obviously didnât even read my conversation with the guest I screen shot the numerous times she messaged about the daughters and their names and agreed to send the money as well.
CS Rep said she would have to get approval from guest to charge her and since she wonât respond they are just offering me $300 and the guest gets away with itâŚ.i cannot believe that Airbnb is willing to pay so much out of hide when they are right fully due to receive more than a third of that, plus 22% in taxes, instead!
What other recourse do I have? Seems like just leaving a bad review and maybe small claims court if I want to take the timeâŚ
Btw, the refundable portion of the pet fee cannot be used towards it because the dog peed in the kitchen and they didnât even clean itâŚfound it when it was already dried and sticky and stepped in itâŚand once cleaned up used the backlight only to find it splashed all up on the pantry door! She had said he would be with them everywhere and then said might be left at the house for a couple hours and then thank goodness used the crate I provided because most days the dog was left alone in the house 8-14 hours a day. The only other time the dog left the property was to leaveâŚso much for the dog going everywhere with themâŚ
Going off platform for extra pet fees and extra guests can mean that not only would you be denied âhelpâ but also get taken off the platform for going against the TOS.
Why would you think that airbnb would help you out of your situation?
I would think that Airbnb would do their job of collecting the money from the guest to avoid its that. I would think they would want to be sure to collect their cut instead of letting the guest pay nothing and then paying me half out of their pocket.
Did I understand correctly that Airbnb is offering you $300? Thatâs great. I understand people thinking they can get extra fees paid directly, Iâve done that several times without any problem. However, if I had a problem the last thing I would do is contact Airbnb for help. With the saved money comes increased risk. If people canât pay me via cash ( I live there) or a pay app then I would submit the request to Airbnb immediately.
Yes, Airbnb is offering me $300. I am supposed to receive $582 ($50/person x 2 people x 6 nights - 3%). I had to push them w repeated requests to multiple people to get them to even contact the guest to try to get them to pay the $600 + $84 Airbnb Service fee + $66 taxes. So guest is supposed to pay $750 to Airbnb and instead they are offering to give me $300âŚI donât get it either.
I contacted Airbnb because the guest failed to pay, either directly or through the change request I submitted to the guest. Not sure why you would avoid contacting Airbnb about that.
I know you have used DogVacay/Rover and understand that this situation would be detrimental to us as hosts with them but Airbnb has never had the same âall payments must be through our platform or you will be bannedâ policy. Although, for me, even with DogVacay/Rover I have always collected travel fees outside of their platform as I have it written into my profile. And I have enough loyal clients that know my worth that they sometimes are happy to pay me more for my mileage than they pay the platform for my service itself. (Most commonly when they move further away than initially and then want to keep me.)
What you are describing is not a booking that was made after you gained the client via Airbnb. You are describing collecting fees outside of Airbnb and they do have a policy prohibiting that. That doesnât mean I think they will remove you from the platform. But once I told a guest they could pay me directly to avoid fees I wouldnât then ask for Airbnbâs help.
I repeatâŚif I told a guest they could pay me directly, they would do it right then, not later. If they couldnât or they put it off I would request via Airbnb. They could also be told their reservation will be canceled if they donât pay immediately.
I do get that Airbnb should want to get the full amount now and take their cut rather than just pay you a portion out of their own pocket, Iâm just commenting that I wouldnât have done what you did and Iâd be grateful for the $300.
As a note on Rover fees, I havenât had a Rover client in over 2 years. But I may be moving to NC and may need to reopen my profile. Iâm dreading their high fees though.
Before Airbnb added the ability to include pet fees in their booking process I collected directly most of the time. It was written in my House Rules.
I have had 3 bookings since starting up again (new house, new listings, new rules) and for simplicity just added it through their system instead. I do plan to change it back though as I prefer charging by the nights and by the pets as opposed to charging one fee regardless of number of pets, house training level and nights.
May be coming to NC? Where abouts? So coolâŚ.well, cooler than Texas anyways (most of the time)âŚlol
Durham. Iâm in a new, and unexpected, relationship and I have more flexibility to move. And it is cooler most of the time. That and water availability given the global climate crisis are considerations. But I love the West so all options are on the table.
These direct payments that you mentioned are relating to actual nightly rates/adjustments due to the number of guests or an adjustment for the length of the stay for example?
Iâm curious as we recently charged a guest a late check-in fee via Airbnb and there was no fee for that. At least I couldnât see any. The late check-in fee was added to our previously stated payout amount.
In my case they have been pet fees when someone arrives with a pet but they didnât put them in the guest count on the drop down menu. I can also send the fee via the resolution center but if Iâm standing there talking to the guest and they offer cash or Venmo, I take it.
Airbnb screwed me the same way just recently (except that I did not try to transact off platform).
I had a group of guests claim to be 3 people. Security cameras (duly disclosed) showed 7 overnight guests + a party with 19 guests! I charge an extra guest fee for groups of more than 3 people.
Cleaner charged extra to take care of the mess afterwards.
I submitted a resolution center request that the guest ignored. After bringing it to Airbnbâs attention 3 times, they offered me $300, which is only a fraction of the amount owed.
Maybe $300 Airbnbâs âwe donât care about you, Homeaway is too small for you to leave and quit, and we donât think that you will sueâ number.
I donât understand the point of security cameras if hosts donât deal with extra guests, parties, etc. in the moment. Why let people throw a party, trash the house, and then try to get Airbnb to compensate you after the damage is done?
Cameras should be used for prevention of bad scenarios, instead of for proof after the fact.
If you saw some thief breaking into your house on your cameras, would you just let him carry off your TV, computer, and other valuables and only report it to the police when he was long gone?
As much as you describe the perfect world (which Iâd love to live in), most surveillance cameras are âonlyâ there to record any unwanted activities - for proof.
Believe you me that I am glued to the cameras when new guests check in and make sure that no unregistered guests or animals get dragged into our place.
However, Airbnb (or any other platform for that matter) probably wouldnât care much for you to call them saying âI saw the guests sneaking in more peopleâ. Guest can say no to Airbnb and it would be your word against theirs. Hence the recording part, for proof, that hosts can provide to make a case.
I donât see why @blueslippers should not be compensated for any damages or lost fees âjustâ because they used recorded footage. Not every host can always live-monitor all activities.
I agree with @Hosterer - most cameras arenât monitored 24/7 unless you pay a company to watch it for you.
I never call our cameras âsecurityâ cameras. I call them âsurveillanceâ cameras and say we donât watch the recordings except for weather and timekeeping assistance (of our staff) and in case of an incident. I donât define âincidentâ on purpose - it could be that I have a report of too many guests and I want to check on that.
Unfortunately, AirBnB insists on calling any camera a security camera.
I donât sit around watching my cameras. I donât think that anyone does, or should be expected to. I review them mostly when someone tells me that something has happened.
My Nest cams send me an alert when/if something happens. In the case of the entry door, when it is opened, I get an alert, with a playback of what is happening. This satisfies my need to âwatch overâ the entrance. And honestly it is as much for protection of the other guests (I have 3 rooms in my private home).
Weâve had this conversation before and I thought you finally understood what I was talking about, but apparently not.
Of course cameras record things that are happening in the moment or that happened some time before. So yes, they are âproofâ.
And of course I wouldnât expect hosts to sit and watch their camera footage 24/7.
What I mean is that it seems that hosts who use cameras should be viewing them when guests check in, and probably again later that evening once or twice, to make sure no funny business is going on, and if it is, to address it immediately with the guests.
If Airbnb was the sort of company that accepted camera footage of guests sneaking in extras or throwing a party and responded by saying, âYes, of course we will charge the guests for thisâ, it would be one thing, but we all know they donât operate like that, and that they senselessly suspend hosts for reporting a party.
So cameras are best used to stop guests from breaking rules in the first place, or pay for extra guests when they arrive with more than they booked for, rather than just expecting that Airbnb will âdo something about itâ after the fact.
Not sure what specific discussion youâre referring to but here are my follow up thoughts.
contradicts:
Iâm confused.
So youâre saying that IF a guest manages to sneak in an unregistered animal or guest and I do not stop them at the door step because I walked away from said doorstep (or the monitor of my cameras) for a couple of minutes for a toilet break or any other valid reason to have a life (doctorâs appointment, picking kid up from school, cleaning, cooking etc.) and I contact Airbnb to report a violation of my house rules that the guest can simply deny any of what I say (and have proof for), plus I will be shut down by Airbnb?
Sorry for being so cynical but that doesnât make any sense.
We had a couple check-in âaloneâ until later at night they snuck in their dog. I mean people do have to sleep. Only because I reviewed the footage I was able to catch that disrespectful behaviour and violation of our house rules.
According to your statement this would only lead to a ban of my listing plus a possible reimbursement for the guest.
