Just received a booking request that I accepted. However it is now showing as Pending Payment and the requested dates are blocked on my calendar. This guest is new to AirBnb. Has this ever happened to you? Should I contact the guest?
Yes it’s happened to me and it resolved itself without any need to call Airbnb. 
I have had this happen several times. I only needed to intervene [i.e. contact AirBNB] once. The guest contacted me after 24 hours and was very anxious. There in fact had been a technical glitch and the customer service folks contacted them in Germany and straightened it all out.
Yes, it’s happened to me two or three times. In each case, the guest wasn’t able to provide payment before the request expired.
Interesting. All of mine became confirmed reservations.
It’s happened a few times; only once the payment wasn’t completed and my calendar was promptly cleared again.
This has happened to me a number of times. It normally resolves itself, and the reservation is confirmed.
I think what happens is that when the guest puts in the booking request, they have to submit a card number, but the card is not charged at the time of the booking request. When the host (i.e. you) accepts the reservation, then the card is charged. If there is some problem charging the card, then you get the “Pending Payment” message, and the guest has to sort it out with the credit card company, or use another credit card. From the confused messages I’ve received from guests in the past, I think that most guests are not familiar with how this system works. Assuming I’ve got it right, that is.
This is pure theory on my part, however. I’ve never booked Airbnb as a guest. Can anybody confirm this?
Incidentally, I think this can happen when people try to use their credit card away from the places that they normally use them. And then the payment is denied as a security precaution.
If this is correct, I don’t know if there is a way to check whether the card can actually be charged without actually charging it. Maybe there isn’t.
One more thing. Airbnb says that the guest has been made aware of this, but I recommend you cut and paste the message about pending payment etc and send it to the guest anyway.
Also, there was a recent thread where someone said a reservation was confirmed without the payment actually being made, which is a bit alarming. But I’ve not yet experienced this myself. This is the thread - Airbnb now allowing guests to stay without paying - Airbnb hosts forum.
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Yes. Barclays are always denying my Visa card “for security reasons” as happened a few weeks ago when I was booking an Airbnb in Cape Town. I didn’t get the message until a few hours later and then couldn’t sort it out immediately as I was away from home and couldn’t go through their security process. When I finally sorted it I messaged the host to apologise but she wasn’t bothered and said she thought it must be something like that. I must have an honest face on my profile!
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The cards are set up to flag and stop suspicious transactions so sometimes they will get stopped if the person is in Missouri, for example and suddenly books an Airbnb in Hawaii. You have to notify them if you travel abroad… not a fun experience to have your card held while you are traveling, simply because you didn’t tell the bank so they could put a note on your account.
I booked a tour in Prague and the reservation was confirmed and the tickets were issued. However, a couple of weeks later when I got home, the tour company said the payment had been stopped. When I called the bank, they said there had been fraud reported somewhere in the vicinity of the tour company, not the company themselves. This was done by Visa, which then passed the fraud alert to the bank and then onto the card. Of course I paid what I owed to the company and they were most grateful, as it would have been nearly impossible to collect it after the person left the country.