Long Term Booking Split Payments are never paid ontime - Airbnb Support does nothing to fix the problem

[David997]

Airbnb recently implemented splitting payments for long stays with no credit checking. I often have guests that are 2 weeks late with their monthly payments and airbnb support does nothing with the late payments. I specifically asked before I accepted the long booking of 5 month+ what steps airbnb implements to ensure they have appropriate funds to cover late payment, and I was assured that this was carefully managed. THAT WAS A LIE. IT turns out that airbnb support appears to have no follow up checks, so if guests don't pay on-time it is the responsibility of hosts to chase guests for payments. I have had to do this for nearly every month. Does anyone else have this issue? Why is airbnb rolling out products they can not support? Why I am paying 14% of the income to airbnb when they do nothing? They eventually get the late month payment paid, and then promptly ignore the issue until the next month payment is again late.

[Ricardo85]

@David997 

Airbnb only guarantees the payment of the first month for long periods. It has always been like that. As he does not hold the $$$ of the following months on the guest's card, the host is subject to fraud.

That is precisely why I do not accept stays longer than 28 days.

Ricardo

[David997]

Actually I had bookings few years ago over 30 days where the payment was paid in one go. But acknowledge the monthly payments have been around for sometime. Airbnb is the one pushing hosts to accept longer stays, I have multiple airbnbs and messages from them saying why don't you accept longer bookings. I don't understand why they push a product they won't support. I don't understand why the airbnb support staff lied to me and said they had the systems to support longer term bookings when clearly they do not. I have asked airbnb to cancel the booking if they don't get payment shortly. 

[Dale711]

@David997 

I am sorry to hear that you being frustrated with the late payment.

I do have a similar experience like you, and I do keep on pushing and acknowledge the Airbnb case manager to release the late payment as soon as possible.

When a guest stays with you for a short period, it’s customary for them to pay the entire amount upfront. With more extended stays, however, the arrangement will work more like an apartment rental, with a guest paying a set amount each month.

For all long-term reservations, your guest will be responsible for paying for the entire first month of their stay when they book. You’ll receive this payment 24 hours after your guest’s check-in. After that, Airbnb will automatically charge the guest’s credit card each month of their stay (counting from the beginning of the reservation).

For instance, if a guest checks in on March 21 and is staying for two months, you’ll get the payment for the period of March 21 to April 21 on March 22. The guest will then be charged on April 21 for the period of April 21 to May 21.

The details of this can vary in reality based on the dates (Airbnb can’t process credit card payments on non-business days, for instance), but this is the basic outline of how the policy works. To learn more, consult Airbnb’s guide to long-term reservation payments.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/285/how-are-longterm-reservation-payouts-processed

[Sarah977]

@David997  Airbnb is pushing long term bookings, while still using the same model as they use for short term, which of course doesn't work. No real security deposit, no guarantee of payment beyond the first month, no proper vetting of guests. They don't acknowledge that guest/host isn't the same as tenant/landlord.

I would never take long term bookings through Airbnb. You are way better off doing long term on your own, where you collect a real security deposit, get references from the tenant, work history, have a proper lease, etc.

[Helen3]

Quite honestly I don't know why any hosts would take long term bookings on Airbnb @David997 

why on earth would you let a guest stay for two weeks without payment 

Airbnb only pay you late when the guest doesn't pay . 

If you choose to accept long term booking from Airbnb you need to let guests know if they don't pay on time the likely outcome is cancellation of their booking and eviction