Use of an airbnb Credit

[Mike2192]

I have an airbnb credit for a booking cancelled because of Covid. I want to use that credit for a booking in June next year.

When I press the reserve button the cost comes up and shows the credit amount. (-£559)

Price details

£85.14 x 7 nights

£596.00

Cleaning fee

£25.00

Service fee

£105.20

Travel credits

- £559.00

Total (GBP)

£167.20

The screen also shows two options

Payment plan

Payment plan

Pay £167.20 now

Pay the total now and you're all set.

Pay £0.00 now

We’ll charge the rest to the same payment method on 22 May 2021.

Clicking on Pay 0 now

Price details

£85.14 x 7 nights

£596.00

Cleaning fee

£25.00

Service fee

£105.20

Travel credits

- £363.10

Total (GBP)

Payment plan

Payment plan

Pay £363.10 now

Pay the total now and you're all set.

Pay £0.00 now

We’ll charge the rest to the same payment method on 22 May 2021.

I need to know if the remaining payment of £ 363.10 is part paid by the credit so my only outlay then will be £167.20 and the other half comes from the credit.

Please advise 

Mike

[Super47]

And finally, all other Travel Credits, Coupons and Vouchers(incl post-March 14 credits for all those 'attested' cancellations)

The related Help Centre simply states -

- Coupons can't be applied after booking

- If you cancel, coupons are non-             refundable

- Expiry dates can't be changed 

- Only one coupon can be used per  booking 

Further information can be found in the Help Article entitled 'What should I do if my coupon code isn't working?', which by definition, most people would probably only check out after they discover their coupon is no longer active. A little too late to be discovering some of these caveats (emphasis, mine)...

• If a coupon has expired, there’s no way to reactivate it.
• Only one coupon can be used per reservation.
• A coupon can only be used once. If you cancel a reservation that was booked using a coupon, the coupon is no longer valid.
• For reservations of 28 nights or more, or if you choose a payment plan when you book, a coupon will reduce the total price and the amount will be split across payments.
• Only coupons issued by Airbnb are accepted.
• If you use less than the full amount of a coupon, any unused discount amount will be forfeited.
• Coupons can't be applied to a reservation you made in the past.
• Only the person who received a coupon can use it on Airbnb. There’s no way to transfer a coupon to someone else.
• Coupons can only be used for the type of booking they were issued for. For example, if a coupon can only be used towards a stay, then it can't be used towards an experience or for anything else on Airbnb.
• If a reservation booked with a coupon is altered later on, you'll need to pay the difference with your payment method, or, if the alteration results in a refund, we'll credit your payment method for the difference. However, you won't receive a refund for the coupon amount, and the coupon won't be able to be used again
• A coupon may have specific limitations; read the Terms & Conditions distributed with the coupon for details.

Up until at least August 28th, there was previously a paragraph in this Coupons Help article that warned that coupons used for an initial payment of a payment plan booking could not later be used for the second part of that booking, along with a link to the relevant information in the Payment Plan Help article. But for whatever reason, that information has since been removed 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Super47 

• A coupon can only be used once. If you cancel a reservation that was booked using a coupon, the coupon is no longer valid.

Well... They fixed that againsts guests benefit. Who would have thought it ? 🤔

@Mike2192 @Alex893 @Emiel1 

[Super47]

These extreme and unorthodox voucher/travel credit limitations are a ticking time bomb for Airbnb, @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0. The vast majority of the vouchers that have been used over the past number of months would most likely have been related to cancelled stays that were booked pre-March 14, but there's a whole tsunami of later post-March 14 ones still to come and undoubtedly, a ton of bookings that have been made using the Covid vouchers for stays in the coming months, when many travellers would have expected things to have been much improved. But with many regions worldwide going back into lockdowns and severe restrictions, there's going to be another flood of cancellations - and consequently, a lot of cancelling guests will be discovering that their vouchers have been rendered worthless, and are gone forever. 

I predict a riot.. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike2192 @Alex893 @Emiel1 

@Super47 

I predict a riot.. 

Batten down the hatches.... 

The consequence of expiring travel vouchers is going to be frantic guests wanting to book - something - in order to not lose their credit value.

That - something - is highly likely to be booking dates as 'markers' for temporary reservation, ready for a change in booking to other more suitable dates later when they have a real chance to plan.

As a host, I'm not so sure I want to provide a guest nest whilst they finalise their plans and block out my calendar in the process. In considering this I feel that my 50% strict cancellation policy will be put to good use and change requests will be treated more harshly than have been in the past. We typically have a 3 month lead time for bookings so these nested bookings could cause quite a problem in leaving unbooked dates due to changes..

That being the likelihood or possibility, the encouragement by Airbnb to provide more 'flexible' cancellation options wouldn't serve us well, only Airbnb would benefit here as should a flexible cancellation occur, only a low fee would be incurred on cancellation and passed to the host, no travel credit would be returned to the guest and Airbnb keeps all their service fee plus all the remaining credit value. Alternatively, the host would need to incur booking losses for the nested calendar dates in order to retain the nested booking in the future. The analysis of that is - the host risks a 50% maximum payout averaged across an unfilled changed date booking. Certainly worthy of further consideration.

An option for savvy hosts to recognise will be to open their calendar further ahead than normal in order to accommodate panic bookings by travel credits at what might be more suitable dates for the guests.

This does present potential problems.