Why do people buy Airbnb gift cards?

1

I noticed a recent rash of guest posts over on the Airbnb forum about buying Airbnb gift cards and then having them be rejected when they try to pay with them.

I can understand someone buying a gift card to present as a gift to someone else (hence the name) but all of these people seem to be trying to book for themselves with a gift card they bought.

Why would someone do that instead of just paying for a booking with their credit card? Are there some other perks associated with a gift card? I don’t understand it at all. (Maybe they don’t have a credit card and bad credit?)

2

No credit card because they’re under age? That might explain why it’s being rejected. I think they have to be 18 years of age to book. It might not be the gift card being rejected but the reservation.

3

Costco offers gift cards at a discount to their face value (HoneyBaked Ham at 20% is my favorite). Maybe they sold AirBnB cards at a discount.

4

That could be possible, but the guest posts mostly say that they get a message saying the gift card, that they just bought, has already been redeemed. Could just be some Airbnb glitch, or maybe some kind of third party gift card scam where used cards are being resold?

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