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Several times in the past few months performance ratings have changed dramatically on their own (from 5’s to 1’s, etc.). We worried that this was being seen by prospective guests and contacted airbnb who said it was just ‘a glitch’ and that are ratings were all high…
Then we started to see payout totals jump, usually back, and we were told - again - it was a glitch. But that is not acceptable. These glitches are shaking our faith in their system, and worrying us that we have been hacked and money is being siphoned off.
We all saw the ratings glitches a few months ago. I don’t know if prospective guests saw them or if they were just broken in certain views the host could see. I only remember seeing it in my hosting progress page, and it got fixed and then came back at least once, but it’s been fixed since then as far as I know.
I hadn’t heard about the payouts problem, but I’m in the off-season now with very few reservations.
They’ve certainly got an inexperienced software team, to put it mildly.
Take note: we complained loudly, angrily to Airbnb about the sudden dip in revenue, and were told it was - again - a glitch, and that the real number was the one we were seeing (the lower number). Then we downloaded a spreadsheet of reservations and payouts and saw a day or two not accounted for in payouts. Added to the ‘real’ number it equaled what we had been seeing - the higher amount. Then a few moments later that missing revenue showed up in the total again. We took screen shots. It could be a glitch, but it could also be a hack, and theft. Who knows how much money has come and gone. Who knows who else has been affected. We are overall very happy with the Airbnb system, but this has shaken our faith in it.
My revenue shows up in my bank account and it never changes once it arrives at my bank. You are using the word revenue but I’m guessing you mean something else?
It solely affected the hosting dashboard, what guests see did not change. The last time it happened I checked using a privacy browser.
You hadn’t lost a penny, it was the same issue simply showing incorrect data. Anyway, as @KKC stated, you could check the revenue easily enough by looking at your bank account.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it, it’s symptomatic of the crap IT services at Airbnb and unlikely to change in the immediate future.
I think I know about the error you saw. I noticed the same several years ago. It’s a known issue they don’t care to fix.
So you’re looking at the “BOOKED REVENUE” number at the top of your Performance/Earnings page, right?
That number is made up of “Paid Out” and “Expected”. Paid out are guests who stayed already (you should have money in the bank) and “Expected” are guests who will arrive with a payout in the future.
The problem arises when one of your guests arrives and Airbnb releases the payment to you. That money moves out of the “Expected” pile, but doesn’t immediately move to “paid out”. It’s held in a 3rd category, let’s call “Pending”. (This is the day or two you saw missing from the total)
Whatever data scientist/coder built this page is an idiot and didn’t thoroughly vet their work. They set the “Booked Revenue” value to be the sum of PAID + EXPECTED. The calculation should actually be PAID + EXPECTED + PENDING.
For the couple days the transaction is “pending” while it goes through the banking transfer system, your total booked revenue will be incorrect. Then it will correct itself once the amount moves from “pending” to “Paid”. (This is what you saw when the number magically corrected)
This is one of those issues that annoys me because it shows Airbnb’s lack of attention to detail. In the same way I get a review notice, after MY GUEST has left that says “Please rate SoandSo as a HOST”.
I have had happen where my payouts didn’t get sent (several times in as many years so about once a year). I got later payouts but the stuck one would just sit in the future payments section with a past date listed as expected payout date.
Each time if I hadn’t called about it I imagine it would have just sat there forever. I tried one time to wait it out just to see but I needed the money and it killed me to not request it when I was owed it.
