How do I know that a payment has been made, before giving access to my property?

[Renee645]

How do I know that a payment has been made, before giving access to my property?

[Ian37700 · Accepted solution]

Hi Renee,

My experience is it just works, Airbnb looks after that for you as part of the fees paid for the booking. You can look at the booking in the calendar to see the payment amount and transaction history under insights, earnings then scroll down the page and click payment history then upcoming pay-outs tab. You get the money days to a bit over a week later in your bank account. 

[Renee645]

Thank you 🙏 

[Peter4169]

I’m pretty sure that this answer is outdated. I just followed your instructions and they didn’t work. On the Calendar page when I click on a booking, it doesn’t show me a transaction history of the booking, nor the word “insights.” There is one link that says “Transactions history,” but it doesn’t show any of the guests payment transactions. It only shows a list of my payouts - nothing about the payments by the guests. Thus for all of my bookings I don’t know: 1) when is the guest’s last payment due. or 2) has the guest paid it?.  3) if they haven’t paid it, how overdue is it?

Other rental websites make all of this information readily available on the booking screen. Super easy and it keeps us owners informed. Why does Airbnb not allow owners to see this very important information? I’m certain there must be many instances in which someone doesn’t pay; and the owner is caught off guard because Airbnb keeps us owners in the dark. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Renee645 For the initial stays the booking should not be confirmed until payment has been received by Airbnb. For stays longer than 28 days you do need to check subsequent months have been paid before the end of the first month.

[Peter4169]

Which of these do you mean: A) until full payment of the whole booking is received by Airbnb? or B) only the first payment is received?

If it’s B, where do we owners go to see what date the final payment will be due, has the renter paid it already, and if it’s overdue, how overdue is it?

[Joelle43]

Hello @Renee645 

I had the case recently that a booking made for a number of weeks was showing "awaiting payment" for 24 hours. Luckily there were two days to sort this out before their scheduled arrival.  Payment went through and the status switched to "confirmed" so it's always a good idea to check this before letting anyone in especially if someone reserves very last minute!  You could then face having a guest in your listing who hasn't got the funds or has cancelled their card and Airbnb will not pay you.

[Helen744]

@Renee645 you will need to look on your computer under transactions and payment history Renee, but do not be surprised if it takes up to a month for your first payments to reach you,after that you will be paid the day after the booking commences. Airbnb will notify you if for any reason the guests have not paid. A booking is not confirmed fully until this happens. Get to know your dashboard and you will become familiar with the settings under transactions..Good Luck... H

[Peter4169]

This info doesn’t show up under transactions or payment history. There is one link on the booking page that says “Transactions history,” but the page it goes to doesn’t show any of the guest payment transactions. It only shows a list of my past and future payouts - nothing about the payments by the guests. Also on the Menu dropdown tab at the top of the page, none of the options (including Reservations, Earnings, Insights or Activity) lead to the information.

Thus for all of my bookings I don’t know: 1) when is the guest’s final payment due. or 2) has the guest paid it?  3) if it’s overdue, how many days overdue is it?

Other rental websites make all of this information readily available on the booking screen. Not even one click is needed. Super easy and it keeps us owners informed. But it appears that Airbnb won’t let us owners see this key information.

Airbnb notifying us through email if a renter didn’t pay isn’t reliable because emails get routed to spam folders. Notifying us via their own website isn’t good because many owners log in there once or twice a week if they don’t have a new inquiry to handle. So a lax approach of “we’ll notify you” is weak. They should let owners know when payments are due so owners can add that to their calendars and view a page just after the due date to see if payment was made. But they don’t tell us the due date, and there is no page where we can go to see if payments are made - so we can start figuring out what to do. 

[Peter4169]

I don’t think this is how Airbnb works: "A booking is not confirmed fully until this happens.” I’m pretty sure that Airbnb does not require all renters to pay in full many months in advance, and instead either some or the majority of renters make two payments. Yet Airbnb always sends me confirmations of new bookings the minute the booking is made, including when it’s made six months in advance. 

Similarly, after I receive those confirmations, I’ve never received any follow-up notification from Airbnb that “fully” confirms the booking, nor that tells me that the booking has been paid in full.