If I remember rightly (and I’m sure that someone will correct me if I’m wrong) during our discussion about calling Airbnb we established that, from experiences of hosts here, these facts seem to be correct.
That is a good question. There are many posts about air taking advantage of hosts, including payment issues and many others. It is pretty clear that blind trust in air is less than prudent.
We were not really concerned about his age alone. The brand new profile and combination of total factors gave us just a bit of pause - combined with the many cautionary tales of woe here.
Long and short of it - it was a very quick call. The agent was pleasant and confirmed that everything was ok.
At this time, we did not know that there should be some indication in the booking that the guest payment is good - we’ll look for that next time.
The guest was just fine. He did not review us (yet) so he probably won’t do so, so he won’t get one.
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Yes, there are. Although you have to remember that none of the hosts here are likely to post “I had to call Airbnb the other day and they were fantastic”. That applies here with all matters about hosting.
It’s totally bonkers. As you said, we are running businesses here and for any business to have blind trust in any supplier, advertiser, employee, you name it is never a good business decision.
If you can, please please get into the habit of reviewing all guests. It keeps the Airbnb system on track. I’m sure that you’d warn your fellow hosts if you had a bad guest, but it’s important to know about the good ones too.
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Where is the underage girlfriend? 20 is not underage anyways. And you don’t have a 21+ house rule.
You still have a responsibility to review him. Suggesting that you don’t seems a bit underaged to me 
And please, for the love of god, stop shouting everything with all-caps. It makes you look unhinged, not emphatic.
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Discriminating? I was merely checking that a Guest’s payment is in order. If the account was not brand new or had history I would not have been concerned at all.
I certainly did not offer the agent an explanation or reason. I merely told him that “we are just checking if everything is ok”. He asked for a second to look it up the confirmed it was fine. No drama.
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I know that there was an extensive issue for Australian hosts last year. It was even discussed here. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and not just the ‘first report’.
@Rosie1 You might want to search for threads about it. Here is one for you. By the way, where are you located in the world?
I suppose it is possible that the GF did not share the bottle of champagne or beers consumed during their stay … 
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We agree - we would absolutely review every bad guest. If needed, waiting until the 14th day per good advice here. It is critical that future hosts are warned about bad guests - 100% of the time. Standing ovation.
We used to review every guest after checkout, and quickly. Most guests reviewed us back. A few did not, including one to whom we provided extra amenities at no cost and with big smiles.
Then, we read here that some hosts prefer to wait for the guest to go first …
There’s no reason though to do something simply because other hosts do it. The great thing about this forum is that readers get a great mixture of opinions.
There are some very experienced hosts here and there are some who are brand new. Some rentals are entire places, others are rooms in the host’s home. Readers can make up their own minds what is right for them.
I’ve posted, just today, that I review guests just after I’ve prepared the apartment for that afternoon’s incoming guests. Others, yes, do prefer to let the guest review them first - although personally I don’t see why.
But by saying…
… you are saying that you only review guests who review you?
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Indeed. This forum is very valuable. There is a wealth of experience to draw on here.
It is not possible to agree with everyone, as there are contrary views on pretty much everything - booking policies, pricing, house rules, reviews. The only thing that we may possibly agree on is the value of this community.
We are open to changing our views and trying out different tactics.
We had reviewed every guest within minutes of getting the initial notification that we could. At the moment, we are waiting for the Guest to go first.
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That’s the way it reads to me.
And while you got the response you wanted from Airbnb this time don’t get used to it. The few times I’ve called Airbnb about payment issues they won’t tell me crap.
Really? Let’s say for argument’s sake that he had stayed at another airbnb prior to yours. You say he had a brand new profile so I assume that means is said member since Dec 2019 with no prior reviews. But perhaps he and the gf had stayed at another nearby Airbnb during the month of Dec. If the host had done the responsible and prudent thing and reviewed them promptly maybe the guest would have reviewed them in turn. Maybe he’s thinking “well, I gave this host my money and he didn’t review me so I’m not reviewing him. I wonder how this works?” How about you be the grown up here? Help this perfectly good guest become a member of the Airbnb community.
You’ve read here far more exhortations to always review every guest.
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You need to review every guest. It’s one thing to avoid bad guests but it’s even more important that a good guest is obvious - your good guests need a review just as much as your bad guests.
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I don’t know why you are doubting Rosie and being suspicious- there are hundreds of posts on the CC about hosts not getting paid for multiple reservations, waiting for months for payment. Just because some of us don’t experience issues with payouts doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue. From my reading, this issue seems to happen more in India and Asian countries, but it’s also happening to hosts worldwide. On what do you base your statement “multiple issues are very rare”?
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Regardless of whether this is possible, it is NOT SCALABLE. What I mean is that if every host did this for every reservation, then Airbnb couldn’t support it. Calling Airbnb is not a viable means of getting this information, because as soon as even a small percentage of hosts would start doing it regularly, it would overwhelm Airbnb’s call centers. Although, it might help get the point across to them that hosts aren’t willing to put up with delayed or missing payouts because Airbnb isn’t collecting payments properly.
Still, if I had to call Airbnb for every guest to make sure I got paid, I would simply not use Airbnb at all.
Now for the more interesting part: Yesterday, for the first time ever, I did not get a payout notification 24 hours after check-in. My last guest checked in on Friday and checked out this morning (Sunday), and I should’ve received the payout notification yesterday. They always come between 3pm and 6pm on the day after a guest checks in, but I did not get a notification. I don’t see any pending payments on my account through my bank, but I don’t know if they normally would show up as pending.
The guest did submit an alteration on Tuesday, but it did not affect the payout amount, it was just to change the number of guests from 6 to 7 and I have a fixed price for up to 8 guests.
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@Brian_R170. I agree - it should not be done for every booking. I only did it one time actually.
Can anyone verify that when there IS a payment issue that the reservation looks different - or has some note associated?
Maybe with a screen shot?
Nothing is showing any different for me right now. The payment that I should’ve received the notification for yesterday is still on the tab for Upcoming Payouts (with yesterday’s date on it), but nothing looks different about it (e.g. color or any other information).
Here’s a screenshot where you can see today’s date in the lower right and the “upcoming payout” that was yesterday. Guest last names are edited out for privacy.
Interesting thread. I am getting concerned about not receiving a payment for 30 Dec - 2 Jan. It’s a big payment (for me) and, although I received the email notification that it went through on 31st, it’s still showing as “Processing” on my Transactions history.
Usually I would think it’s festive season so everything is slow but… lots of other bank transactions have gone through with no delay. I’m starting to think that it’s either:
a) Airbnb’s finance dept taking advantage of the old “everything shuts down over xmas/NY”
b) My own bank is taking advantage of the old "everything shuts down…etc, as above
c) There is some problem with the guests payment. I’m only thinking that because they were a bit weird and their review said I was “very very cheap” 
I wasn’t “cheap”. It was over double the price I normally charge.
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Maybe the guest was actually referring to you, not your listing. 
Just kidding and thanks for the additional data; looks like it’s becoming an epidemic.
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Yes, not best advice given your circumstances.
From that conversation you had with CS it indicates that there was nothing wrong with your payment method and that the issue is with the guest. Rather than interfering with a payment system that has proved itself reliable (you mentioned this elsewhere) I think your first port of call should have been to the guest.
While @RiverRock’s suggestion was harsh, the threat of it (done diplomatically of course) may force the guest to communicate with Airbnb and to resolve the issue.
JF
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Yes, maybe I should have held back on the lipstick, mini-skirt and platinum blonde wig.
Seriously though, I need this money (I’m out of lipstick!). I’ll give it a couple more days so they can earn even more interest (
) and then I’ll be opening a case.
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