Awaiting Payment

[Slawomir0]

Hi all

It is happen second time I have accepted booking request and then it shows Awaiting Payment anyone had similar problem?
Thanks

[Deborah175]

Yesterday I had a 4-day reservation request—essentially filling up the remaining days on my calendar—from a guest who’d been a member for 2 years, but who has no reviews.

After accepting, I got the dreaded “awaiting payment” message. The person’s ID showed s/he was local, which set off some alarm bells, when I didn’t hear back promptly. Today, with the arrival hour approaching, still nothing. 

I contacted Airbnb, and the customer rep. said he’d attempt to contact the guest and would be back in touch. Less than 10 minutes later, he got back to me and said that he’d been unable to reach “her”—I could not have determined gender myself, given the person’s name was “Angel”—because even the telephone number was disconnected. He, of course, re-opened my calendar, but if I’d waited, I’d have lost more than today’s booking.

Not sure what this sort of Airbnb sabotage is about, but it does seem that there are some people engaged in something like sabotage, who have a keen understanding about how to exploit Airbnb’s guest-centric system.

Sounds a bit like a Monkey Wrench Gang!

[Effie13]

Same thing is happening to me now! 24 hours for a guest to pay whilst our dates stay blocked for other potential guests its way long time!

[Jenny733]

I have accepted booking request and then it shows Awaiting Payment. The guest booked my room for tonight and checked in my house. He just stays one night. Now, I don't know how to resolve this issue. Guest will check out tomorrow. He gave airbnb his credit card so he thought he paid already. After 24 hours, this booking will be cancelled and I will not get money. How can i do now? I am so hopeless

[JuanJose39]

This is also happening to me. And there is no response nor any help from Airbnb with this issue. They just don't care.

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@Jenny733 wrote:

I have accepted booking request and then it shows Awaiting Payment. The guest booked my room for tonight and checked in my house. He just stays one night. Now, I don't know how to resolve this issue. Guest will check out tomorrow. He gave airbnb his credit card so he thought he paid already. After 24 hours, this booking will be cancelled and I will not get money. How can i do now? I am so hopeless

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[Sarah977]

@Jenny733  Unless they make up a large percentage of your bookings, do not accept same-day reservations in the future. I chose 3 day advance notice- as long as Airbnb is giving guests so long to confirm their payments, I'm certainly not willing to take the risk of Airbnb not being able to collect.

It's shockingly irresponsible that Airbnb allows guests to make a same day booking, check in and stay, before having their payment in hand. If a guest's payment method isn't immediately chargable, their booking should be instantly cancelled and the host's calendar reopened.

[Athena18]

This has happened to me three times. I do same day bookings and they keep us afloat during off season. Right now, my calendar is blocked for tonight and tomorrow, with no communication or payment in sight. I called and they said they were sending it to a case manager. I was on the phone for 25 minutes. I sent the guest a plea practically begging for them to cancel since it was so late in order to free up my calendar. If I cancel or decline, I get penalized. This is so wrong. Also, it allows criminals or people who want to game the system a chance to hop from one airbnb to the next without ever having to pay. One could actually live that way. I hope I don't give anyone any ideas. Good news! As I typed this, I got an e-mail from Airbnb, they canceled the reservation (and in less than the 24 hours). I'm so happy except I did lose potential customers tonight. No one will book at 8:49 now. I should have called earlier. Next time I get an awaiting payment, I will be more proactive with the guest and with Airbnb right away. 

[Mohibba0]

This just happened to me, I am fairly new to hosting. A guy booked the room same day and did not pay. I called airbnb support 2 times during his stay, reminded him nicely(which he acted like he is calling airbnb and fixing the issue right there and then). The guy checked out, reservation is retracted because of no payment in 24 hours. and I can not file a claim, I can not request money, I can not report his profile and  I can not write him a review. The whole reservation has been wiped off of my calendar. At the end Airbnb just offered to call the guy on my behalf and request money which he isn't responding to. They can not red flag the profile, write up on the back end what he did, can not penalize him in any way or suspend his profile. So I think this guy keeps doing the scam and airbnb won't do anything.

[Elizabeth10]

Also keep in mind that AirBnb allows the same thing to happen if there is a snafu with the verification.  You have to wait 24 hours to give the guest a chance to finalize verification!!  I truly feel AirBnb also punishes hosts who require verification intentionally because they want us to host anybody,  based on "joe" from "nowhere city, any state".  Any then they send you nasty grams that you are declining too many inquiries and requests to book.  

[Mohibba0]

Payment Awaiting:

This just happened to me, I am fairly new to hosting. A guy booked the room same day and did not pay. I called airbnb support 2 times during his stay, reminded him nicely(which he acted like he is calling airbnb and fixing the issue right there and then). The guy checked out, reservation is retracted because of no payment in 24 hours. and I can not file a claim, I can not request money, I can not report his profile and  I can not write him a review. The whole reservation has been wiped off of my calendar. At the end Airbnb just offered to call the guy on my behalf and request money which he isn't responding to. They can not red flag the profile, write up on the back end what he did, can not penalize him in any way or suspend his profile. So I think this guy keeps doing the scam and airbnb won't do anything.

[Sarah977]

@Mohibba0  This is why I'd never take same-day reservations. I want to see that their payment has been processed before their booking commences.

[James--Pad-A-Terre-0]

It is totally unacceptable that ABNB block calendars for dates where the guest does not have a valid form of payment.  Twice now in a week I have lost bookings because of situations like this. Why is ABNB not verifying a valid for of payment before guests book?!  I never agreed to these terms and conditions  It's like split pay. You get a party of 9 who block dates till all have paid.  If one fails then the calendar is booked for 72 hours and hey presto you lose the business.  I never signed up to this!!!

[Sky13]

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2411/what-does-awaiting-payment-mean

“ Hosts replying on web will have the option to give guests a 24-hour window or not. If the host would prefer not to allow a 24-hour window, the request will be canceled penalty-free for both host and guest.”

1.  Immediately ask the guest -in writing- to complete the reservation within 1 hour.
2. Then call Airbnb support. Request that Airbnb contact the guest to complete the reservation.

3. If the reservation is not complete within one hour, call Airbnb. Explain the action taken (#1 and #2). Then recite the policy policy noted above. State you are not willing to allow a 24 hour window and you want Airbnb to decline the booking with no penalty to the host.

This works for me every time.

[Sarah977]

@Sky13 Thank you!!!  I just bookmarked this.

[Antra12]

You can share this with the guest https://airbnbase.com/awaiting-payment/

[Kirstin38]

Has anyone had a guest pay at first, then request additional days, then receive an awaiting payment?  We have someone in our Airbnb and they paid for the first 3 days.  They asked to extend their stay for a few weeks.  Then they only booked 3 more days and now it says Awaiting Payment.  They are in the place and I'm worried we won't get a payment for the additional days.  I notified Airbnb and the guest.  I'm not getting anywhere with either.  Do I kick the guest out?  How long do I wait?