This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Thanks for sharing this. Am I following this correctly?
Your guests made an intial payment for their reservation. But when you went to alter the reservation, you were not given immediate confirmation that the guest had not paid it? Not until some later when you receive an email saying the additional payment was declined?
It’s been a long time since I altered a reservation. I think I recall receiving a confirmation that said guest has accepted the alteration. Are you still getting the acceptance confirmations even when the payment hasn’t gone through?
I made the alteration on an existing reservation in both my circumstances…in one I received an email right away saying the reservation payment was declined. Immediately followed by the typical confirmation email stating the reservation was confirmed with the new total including the alteration amount, with the last paragraph stating I would receive my funds the day after they checked in. Making me assume it had in fact gone through. It HAD NOT.
In a seperate earlier instance, the alteration was made, confirmation email sent confirming changes and charges but this time the decline notice came two weeks after, randomly. Two days before the reservation started.
Any idea why the alternation was declined? Given that the original reservation was accepted, it presumably wasn’t a straightforward matter of the credit card being declined.
I have had this happen quite a few times over the past year. I do not think it is a new “feature”. Usually I let the guest know and they fix the issue - most often the CC attached to the account has expired since their original booking. I have only had one guest that didn’t clear the alteration payment until after they checked out if I notified them immediately.
Looked completely like a normal reservation. I only found the problem after going through my email spam folder , the email did not even made it to my inbox.
As I mentioned, the email said that the payment was rejected and that Airbnb was not liable to make that payout to me. Had I not seen that email they would’ve stayed for free in my home. Other than the email there was nothing abnormal about the reservation.
It is ridiculous that Airbnb doesn’t automatically void the reservation in case of payment failure. Child’s game.
This happened to me Dec 30, 2015 for a one night stay. Same thing where I received the we couldn’t collect payment email and the instant book confirmation email at the same time. I thought it took a second (like guest had an expired card or something) to correct an all was good. I REALLY thought that if they couldn’t pay they couldn’t book.
Guest paid $50 with a giftcard and the $98 balance is ‘in collections’. I spoke at length and over 3 calls to support, to determine 1. Will I get the gift card $$? 2. What happens in collections? How long? Can I take her to collections myself? Waiting for answers on all counts.
Then I had a one night stay where payment was held by ‘Safety and Security’ What? Why? It took another 3 calls and a fabulous support person who finally took ownership and made S&S release my $$. They had no one to ‘pick up the ticket’. I explained I do not work there and only know I did my part brilliantly and Airbnb was holding my $$.
I explained repeatedly that this new risk they’re putting on the host is not conducive to Instant Book. Penalty Free cancellation is no great balance. Who wants to cancel and start bill collecting? The whole joy of hosting w Airbnb, was I could focus on hosting and never have to discuss money. It was brilliant! Now I am nervously double checking each booking to be sure I have not received the dreaded no payment email. I hope they walk this back to the no pay/no book policy like the rest of the travel industry.
I will call again tomorrow to see why they are holding my $50 and for how long? And can I collect from her directly?
Am I understanding this to be an IB issue? Maybe the technical crossing between the payment or lack of it, and the IB confirmation is dong this. Another reason to turn IB off.
I turned that checkmark on the night it snowed in Boston in case Logan was closed, but turned it off the next day. That is the only reason I can imagine having this on. I don’t allow same-day bookings.
This has recently happened to me.
People were already in my home and asked for 2 nights extra. So I revised the booking and funds declined (via email) but booking remaining in place. Airbnb stated they are not responsible for paying me even thou the people were in my home already. I approach the people on leaving and they said they had problems with there card and paid cash for the extra nights. Thinking the booking was made via Airbnb and they said I could take the matter up with the people directly, I said ok so I got paid and told Airbnb straight away. Now they have held the original funds and are looking into canceling my account, because of a third party payment.
Guests stayed in my place in the most expensive night of the year (New Years Eve). And checked out on Jan 1st.
Today when checking my account I don’t s see the payment there and it is still as upcoming payment when I checked the app. I called AIRBNB immediately and the rep told me the guest payment didn’t go through. I was not informed at all before , during or after their stay. They stayed for free in my house in the highest peak of the year. Airbnb says they will try to contact the guest to see if the guest can pay. I said regardless if the guest pays or not it is Airbnbs job to confirm a reservation only after payment. This guest booked much in advance and not last minute which means all this time the payment didn’t go through and I wasn’t informed. The guest stayed and checked out and if it wasn’t for checking today I would never know they stayed FOR FREE. I told Airbnb I have no way to check guest payments and that it is their job, because that’s the one thing we as hosts can’t control.
She said she would try to contact the guest. I also tried contacting the guest and the phone number is not reachable anymore. They said if the guest paid they would pay me. I can’t believe this!
Does anyone know if this is their TOS? I read it through and I can’t find anything mentioning this.
If that’s the case I see no reason to host via Airbnb anymore.
I have over 400 reviews , hosted even greater number of people, being the useless super host since the beginning, and that’s what they tell me now. No payment if the beloved guest didn’t pay.
I had a guest who I excepted and then Airbnb told me they had not paid and I can Cancel with no Penalty. So I looked up this person and decided I would tell her that I would be cancelling her booking if it wasn’t paid within 24 hours. Sure enough that evening she paid and Airbnb informed me. I was surprise also that Airbnb didn’t have the funds before processing the Reservation. Sandra
This just happened to me. Guest booked and the payment must have gone through, then she altered the reservation and added a day. I received no communication from Airbnb but I noticed that the 30 payout had not updated on the progress screen so I went into the transactions and I looked for upcoming payouts. I saw a guest with a reservation after the guest in question, but not the guest that had altered her reservation. I called Airbnb a week in advance of the reservation to ask what was going on. I was told that it was an issue with a pin number with the bank, but they would take care of it and I would be paid out on time. I waited a few days, then I followed up in the app with the message, no response. I called Airbnb and the issue was escalated. I was told that they received the money for the first few days, but just not the extra day, yet they are holding all funds, even though the guest has left. I then received this email from Airbnb directing me to contact my guest for payment. Airbnb is pretending that they didn’t receive any funds from the guest, but a representative already told me they did… Either way, this is not acceptable. If I was told the truth I would have had the option to cancel the reservation. Here is the email:
The attempt to charge your guest, GUESTNAME, for the amount due for reservation HMAEXXXXXX from Sep 14 - 17, 2019 was unsuccessful. The reservation is still active at this time, and we’ve sent GUESTNAME an email alert with a direct way to pay the balance.
If your guest successfully submits payment, we’ll send you a confirmation email right away. If you have questions about the payment problem, you can reach out to your guest.
If your guest doesn’t successfully submit payment or if they cancel the reservation before making the payment, Airbnb isn’t liable for issuing your host payout. If you prefer to cancel the reservation, you can [cancel without penalty] at any time before the trip begins. If the reservation has started and you’d like to cancel, please [send us a note] .
Moral of story, with Airbnb it seems, is when there is a payment issue is to get CS to cancel the booking from their end. One of the issues, I suspect, is when someone books a fair way ahead and chooses the split payment option. If they then get issued with a new credit card (different number) and forget to update Airbnb then the second payment will fail.
We had a similar issue with BDC last week. They cancelled the guest and when we got the confirmation of cancellation it looked like the guest had cancelled. The guest then got informed that we had cancelled!
It was same issue, CC number changed and second payment didn’t go through. They sent her what she had already paid back. To be honest, had no idea BDC did split payments.
After much to’ing and fro’ing, end result was that guest booked direct, payment made via IBAN same day.
Everyone happy, bar BDC. She got a discount, we got a direct and BDC lost €70 commish.
