@Charles183
This has actually been going on for years. Airbnb likes to refer to them as 'frozen' payouts - but they never really come up with any credible excuse as to how the payouts just happen to become 'frozen' in the first place. (Nor are hosts ever notified by Airbnb that they are holding funds belonging to them, let alone informed of why Airbnb are retaining said funds)
Airbnb have a treasure chest of excuses they trot out in these instances. Sometimes they'll use the old 'amendment glitch' chestnut (also been around for years, but somehow never gets fixed), sometimes they'll use the 'couldn't collect payment' tale, other times they'll just go "Oh wow!! How did that happen?? That's a mystery!" And so on, and so on..
As soon as the host twigs their payout(s) are 'resting in Airbnb' s accounts' though, they'll usually release them fairly pronto. That's if the host ever twigs the missing payouts, of course. It goes without saying that the majority of hosts would simply trust that a 'reputable' company like Airbnb could be trusted to pay them out on time, every time, and wouldn't dream in a million years that this is far, far from the case, and they need to watch every penny due to be paid to them by Airbnb like a hawk. One can only imagine how many 'frozen' payouts slip through the net, that never make their way to their rightful owners (hosts)
Every so often, a host will come across this issue and post it on one of the many STR-related groups or forums, then hosts will run to check their Upcoming Payouts tab, and invariably, several will come back to say that they discovered some missing funds also.
So no, its no fluke. It's a regular occurrence in the magical world of Airbnb.
Penelope
