Airbnb has been owing me close to $1500 since December 20th 2019 from a booking that was extended. The extension went through without any problems. Guest lived for free for almost one month in my Airbnb listing. It was very scary to find out. I would have never approved if I would have known that there was a problem with the payment. Airbnb never informed me about any problems. I have never had problems with Airbnb payouts so I only found out about missing payout 1st of January 2020, then I started contacting Airbnb about the issue. They confirmed that there was an issue with payment on guests’ side. Airbnb always very swiftly resolved outstanding money from damages etc. However, not this time. I relied on them to take care of the issue and pay me no matter what. After all, that is why I am using Airbnb to have a safe and guaranteed transaction. In many phone calls Airbnb told me that they have to look into the issue. When I raised my concern about not getting paid I was assured that I will still get paid, but that the collection department has to investigate. With time, I got more and more uneasy about the entire issue and felt that Airbnb is not taking properly care of it. I expected Airbnb to pay me the missing payout and deal with the guest later as it was not my fault that guest was not charged when extension went through. When I initially contacted Airbnb 1st of January, the guests reservation was still for 10 more days until 10th January. I conveyed my concern about a guest staying any longer at my Airbnb listing without any payment and asked them to remove guest, but Airbnb assured me that I would still get paid and not to worry. I was very uneasy in having the guest stay knowing that she was never charged. Airbnb failed to take any action or lend any support at that time. Almost daily calls only promised me to place my complaint on urgent, Airbnb Support hotline is not able to transfer to the department (collections) that are allegedly resolving the issue and are not even themselves able to talk to collections. They are putting the blame on the guest and excusing that they are investigating. Beginning of February I finally received a message letting me know that they will give guest the deadline to pay until 10th February. If guest does not pay I will not receive my full payout. Airbnb did the mistake to let reservation though without securing payment, I would have never approved a stay/extension without prior payment. I am getting paid through Airbnb and I am expecting prompt payment from them especially since it was their mistake. They have not been taking responsibility for their error and letting me in the dark about my payment. Any suggestions for what I can do to receive my full payout?
Twitter and Social Media appears to be the only way to get their attention. They hate bad publicity.
I wish you good luck and I hope you get the payout.
The problem with AirBnB handing the money is that a large corporation always expects a certain portion of bad debt. They price it in, and get to write it off their income taxes. So AirBnB prices bad debt into their service fees. But the hosts are the ones that get hurt with bad debt, and I suspect most hosts don’t price bad debt into their prices, especially with the “race to the bottom” and the prices that Air suggests we use.
Be sure to push hard on them publicly and shame them. Their two main jobs for hosts are advertising and handling our money. When they let a guest stay for free, they are completely failing at the second one.
This is why so many hosts won’t take long term reservations. Short stays are pre-paid in full and you have the money the day after the guest checks in.
Every one of these non-payment issues seems to happen with long-term stays.
I would draw up a very professional looking press release and send it to Airbnb corporate. Tell them you’ll release it in 4 days but wanted to give them the chance to comment or resolve the issue before then.
In my area, staying without pay falls under laws about “defrauding an innkeeper” and my press release would suggest Airbnb is complicit in this theft by not securing and transmitting payment in a timely manner.
Do what Allison says. This is great advice.
Thank you that is a good advice
Thank you so much for your input. You are absolutely right… They failed in handling the money specifically they did wrong in not making me aware.
Thank you Allison for your detailed reply and the great advice. I will definitely do that. So far I posted on their webpage and they immediately send me a message to PM them and resolve the issue. If they are not coming up promptly with something I will do exactly what you advised. Thank you!
Thank you for confirming!
Hi Jasmin,
I’m trying to get help on a similar issue–do you have the number you got in contact with? Or what webpage did you post on?
Thanks,
Olivia