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

[Emiel1]

@Mike2192 

I would choose to pay now. I do not trust the payment plan, it is splitting your reservation into two installments, but not mentioning the travel credit. Please note if you need to cancel the reservation, the travel credit is lost (can not be used again)

[Alex893]

@Emiel1 interesting. They forced all those guests to get a credit but it is one time use? Even if the guest cancels per host policy, they still loose the credit? Airbnb is even sneakier than I thought. Can’t wait for the outcries when guests discover this  

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike2192 

My advice would be to pay the £167.20 now to ensure that you get full use of all the credit all in one go and adhere to Airbnb's 'one use' policy wording to the 'T'. 

The risk of trying to use the whole credit in two parts would be two uses. I would avoid that.

Revealing this new twist to Airbnb cash grabbing policy is certainly worthy of further investigation and it wouldn't be any surprise that what you might think is a benefit now in using the payment plan option will end up costing you, and Airbnb benefitting from your loss.

[Mike2192]

Thanks Mike. I am trying to get airbnb to clarify things better.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike2192 

That would be the best thing to do.

I would add - thanks to Airbnb's convoluted and potentially misleading information and their policy not being clear and transparent, not only have hosts been 'had over' by the changes to booking contracts after agreement and suffering colossal losses, now, the beneficiary's of those hosts losses - the guests - are now being subjected to potential losses too. Not only that, but until you receive verification back from your enquiry with Airbnb, which I and we all hope you will share with us, somewhere out there is a host awaiting a booking for June next year which is being held up by Airbnb... the very people who should be encouraging bookings and not putting obstacles in the way of that.

Any other business arrangement would apply a credit to an account and it would be there, ready for use no matter how many times that use needs to be allocated until the credit is fully used up. Penalties in using a credit balance is not good form.

[Super47]

@Mike2192

Firstly - was the original cancelled booking to which this travel credit relates made on or before March 14th of this year? (So on what date was the stay  actually booked, as opposed to when it was due to take place?) 

That will have a significant bearing on your options in this instance. 

[Mike2192]

Here is the exchange I had with Airbnb Support. I have decided to use the credit and pay the final sum to avoid problems later on.

Hope this helps everyone.
Hey, Mike. Thank you for reaching out to us. This is Danika from Airbnb's community support team and I hope that this message finds you well. I understand you would like to know if the remaining payment of £363.10 is part paid by the credit and your outlay then will be £167.20. Let me try to help you out with that.
If credit balance exceeds the 1st payment, we'll only apply credit up to the 1st payment amount. The remaining travel credit is unused. Subsequently, the 2nd payment will be charged to the payment method on file.
What you can do is to contact us at least 3 days before the 2nd payment is due, so we can send you a Manual Payment Link (MPL) which you can use to pay with the unused travel credit for your 2nd payment, to ensure that your total outlay is only £167.20. You will find the due date for the 2nd payment on the booking confirmation we will be sending once you completed your 1st payment.
Hope this helps. Please don't hesitate to let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.
Message from Mike
Hi Danika
Thanks for the response. It is a bit surprising that the system cannot do this automatically.
Just to be sure of my position. If I contact you about a week before the second payment you will issue an MPL that will be worth £ 167.20 and that along with my £ 167.20 from my card will finalise the transaction on the property. Why cannot I have the MPL now ?
It is sometimes difficult to find the easy way to make contact with you. Most of the help systems lead you away from where you want to go. Can you give me an easy way to start the message that I will be sending around the middle of May 2021.
Thanks again
Mike
Message from Airbnb Support
Hey, Mike. Danika here again. To clarify, the MPL will allow you to use your remaining travel credit after you have proceeded with your 1st payment. I understand your concern, but as much as I would like to provide you with the MPL now, the system will not work as the 2nd payment to which you are going to use it to is not yet due.
Please note that you have an option to pay in full, so you would not have to worry about the MPL, as when you pay in full, the travel credit can also be applied in full.
On your query, you may start the message by saying that you have already completed the 1st payment for reservation (include the code) and that your 2nd payment will be due on (indicate the date). You may proceed by saying that you would like to request for a Manual Payment Link (MPL) so you can use your remaining travel credit.
Hope this helps. Please don't hesitate to let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.
Message from Mike
hanks for all your help Danika. That was very good and clear.
Mike
Message from Airbnb Support
Airbnb Support21:26
Hey, Mike. Danika here again. You are welcome. I tried calling you earlier, but the call was routed to your voicemail. I would just like to check if you have everything else sorted out. Just a recap. You would like to know if the remaining payment of £363.10 is part paid by the credit and your outlay then will be £167.20. As said, if credit balance exceeds the 1st payment, we'll only apply credit up to the 1st payment amount. The remaining travel credit is unused. Subsequently, the 2nd payment will be charged to the payment method on file.
Again, what you can do is to contact us at least 3 days before the 2nd payment is due, so we can send you a Manual Payment Link (MPL) which you can use to pay with the unused travel credit for your 2nd payment, to ensure that your total outlay is only £167.20. You will find the due date for the 2nd payment on the booking confirmation we will be sending once you completed your 1st payment. I have also informed you that the MPL will allow you to use your remaining travel credit after you have proceeded with your 1st payment, and that we can only send the MPL when the 2nd payment is already due.
I have also noted that you have an option to pay in full, so you would not have to worry about the MPL, as when you pay in full, the travel credit can also be applied in full.
Further, I have provided you with the possible content of the message you can send when you contact us again to request for the MPL.
For more information on payment plans, you may visit:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2143
With that being said, I will go ahead and close out our conversation within the day. Should you have any questions in the future, feel free to contact us via our Help Center at www.airbnb.com/help, and we would be glad to help you out. I wish you a wonderful evening, Mike. Please stay safe!
Message from Airbnb bot
Airbnb bot21:48
Did you get the help you needed?
Yes, I’m all done

[Super47]

@Mike2192

So from the looks of this exchange, your travel credit in this instance relates to a cancelled reservation that was booked on or before March 14th - is that correct?

And absolutely, yes, you should use your credit and pay the final sum to avoid issues later on. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike2192 @Super47 

Well, that's another two twists - prior to March 14th - and MPL.

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The few reading this thread will be in-the-know @Mike2192 @Super47 @Alex893 @Emiel1  - providing the travel credit is pre March 14th. The REALLY big question and demand for information is going to be what are the [GAME] rules for post March 14th travel credits? Are these to be dealt with in the same way?

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[Super47]

OK, @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0, I've been procrastinating on posting on the voucher/coupon/travel credit subject because it's sooo convoluted and headwrecking, but here we go.. I'll try to break it down and give making it somewhat understandable my best shot! Can't make any promises.. (The prior to Mar 14 twist was always there.. the MPL one is a new one on me, though.. 😉

Right, so let's look first at travel credits relating to cancellations for stays that were booked on or before March 14th..

These T&Cs below (which took a bit of hunting down) relate only to pre-March 14 bookings. 

 Travel Credit Terms and Conditions 
https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/2740/travel-credit-terms-and-conditions

Highlights - 

"Airbnb is offering Members who cancel a Qualifying Reservation the option to have Airbnb help fund their next booking" (most would say that it's hosts' ECP refunds that are funding said guests' next bookings, but I digress..)

“Qualifying Reservation” means a booking for a stay that was made on or before March 14, 2020, and has been designated in the Airbnb Platform as being eligible for the Offer

- You are not required to apply the Travel Credit to your next booking and may elect to apply it to a later booking, subject to the Expiration Date.

- If any portion of the Travel Credit is not used in your next booking, you may be required to contact Airbnb customer support to re-activate the unused portion of the Travel Credit.

- If you apply the Travel Credit to a booking and the booking is cancelled: (i) you will be refunded based on the Host’s cancellation policy for the amount paid with your Payment Method (i.e., your credit or debit card), and (ii) the amount of the Travel Credit you used for the cancelled booking will be reinstated for a future use, subject to the original Expiration Date.

So according to Airbnb's own T&Cs (which don't come up when you type Travel  Credit T&Cs in the Help Centre, btw) any excess pre-March 14 credits left over after booking a stay can be re-instated, as can any credit used for a booking that is subsequently cancelled - but only by first contacting Airbnb. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Mike2192 @Alex893 @Emiel1 

Thanks for clarifying some of that @Super47 . There is still some ambiguity here, or even some cause for concern for payments to Hosts. Mainly because we know that Airbnb don't like paying out their own cash. This is the part causing me confusion:

- If you apply the Travel Credit to a booking and the booking is cancelled: (i) you will be refunded based on the Host’s cancellation policy for the amount paid with your Payment Method (i.e., your credit or debit card), and (ii) the amount of the Travel Credit you used for the cancelled booking will be reinstated for a future use, subject to the original Expiration Date.

Reading this slowly, the underlined part states that only the amount paid by the guest would constitute a cancellation payment, the travel credit part would be exempt. In a guests' case of cancellation, their own Payment method would be at risk, but not their travel credit. This is small incentive not to cancel if the host has a 50% cancellation policy. In @Mike2192 case here, his maximum loss for cancellation would be the hosts cancellation policy charge (50%) of his Payment method, Card Payment (£167.20) making a cancellation fee of £83.60. This is a far cry from the Hosts' £596 booking fee and Airbnb's £105.20 service fees calculated to a cancellation amount.. Resulting in a cancellation fee of £298 plus £105.20 = £403.20. This would have to be pure presumption, but where could the Hosts cancellation fee (£298) come from when the guest has only paid £83.60? Furthermore, Airbnb has lost its Service Fee.

I think Airbnb's own T&C's are radically wrong here. And we know what happens when they try to fix them...

[Super47]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0

I shared that exact clause to 4 different long-term, highly experienced hosts last night, and asked them what they made of it. All came back with varying interpretations. So what chance have the poor unfortunate support agents got of deciphering it all, especially when most of them will be new hires, no longer than 5 minutes in the job? 

[Super47]

Now.. Travel Credits when used in conjunction with Payment Plans..

Regardless of whether or not these are pre- or post-March 14 credits, I'm not actually convinced that @Mike2192 was given the correct information about being able to use the remainder of his Travel Credits towards the second part of his payment. 

Firstly, there's no mention of that whatsoever in the Travel Credits T&Cs.

And secondly, the Travel Credits section in the Payment Plan Help article (which the support agent also linked to in her email to @Mike2192)clearly states.. 

If you choose a payment plan during checkout, Airbnb credits, coupons, or gift cards will work for your initial payment (the payment you make during checkout), but not for the second payment, or any future payments.

Doesn't say anything about any exceptions to that rule, even for pre-March 14 bookings.