Guest stayed and didn't complete payment- No payout for hosts

[Laura2592]

I had a guest stay for three nights. They called me prior saying there was trouble with a credit card. I directed them to Airbnb. I thought it was unusual and posted here. Everyone reassured me that the guest could not stay without completed payment.

They came and went. No payout. Now on my 4th call to Airbnb requesting the payout a very nice customer service rep said they did not complete their payment. She is looking into "options." HOW on Earth could this happen??  I am still waiting for a "resolution."

This is the holiday season and we are booked solid. We had several inquiries for the guests' dates. Be careful my fellow hosts!

Also a note for Airbnb CR-- I was called by three different names in the course of a 45 min conversation with two reps- Lorna, Lauren and Laura. My name is Laura 🙂 It is a little frustrating to not be called by the correct name when trying to resolve a problem. Doesn't make you feel as though you are heard or matter much.

[Susan17]

Of course  not, @Sarah977! Nor shoring up the balance sheets neither.. 

[Laura2592]

Still no payout-- this is day 22 of waiting for it. Calling every day. 

[Lisa723]

@Laura2592 

FWIW, I took Airbnb to small claims court and got paid, plus court fees and damages. Something to consider.

[Laura2592]

@Lisa723 I am considering it. Looking into the process in my area. NO ONE has contacted me save my "case manager" email once after many many calls. This is absurd.

[Lisa723]

@Laura2592 it was well worth it, to me; even though the amount was small the moral vindication was substantial.  🙂  Airbnb never responded, so the court ruled in my favor by default, and then Airbnb paid the judgment when notified of the court order.

[Kerrie56]

Question - after successfully suing Airbnb for what they owed you, are you still able to host on Airbnb?

Overall, I usually get paid. Pretty sure my guests were scammers. I had a bad feeling about them after I met them but they were already at my house. They seemed very shady. So my guess is that this is an issue Airbnb doesn't want to talk about  - because they haven't worked out a system to inform the host prior to the guest's arrival that payment has not been completed. They're a tech company, wtf?

In the end, when this happens and we're questioning who's the culprit - the guest or Airbnb - the answer is BOTH OF THEM. Nine times out of 10, the guests are probably con artists who figured out a way to get a free hotel, but Airbnb is also in on the con; scamming the very hosts that keep them in business. 

Whether or not they actually collected anything upfront (in my case, Airbnb told me in writing that they collected the full amount upfront but not releasing it because the card for their alteration request was declined), Airbnb has an obligation to protect their hosts and certainly to pay them what they already collected. They are using a technicality as an excuse to steal my money. This WILL be a class action lawsuit eventually, and I think it has the potential to lead to Airbnb's demise, certainly if another company comes in and says they have the technology to protect hosts from con artists. 

For now, I am making sure I have a week's notice minimum prior to a reservation, I will never again accept an alteration request, even if it seems like more money for me. 

[Kristin1807]

Hi Lisa, how can I take it to small claims court. I still have no Payment. The guest stays 8 days for free. I want to start the process with court. 

[Laura2592]

Still missing this pay out. It will be a month soon. 

[Kerrie56]

Hi - so I have a similar situation. I had guests recently who prior to their stay (by maybe one day) made an alteration request for an extra guest, which I accepted. The day before their checkout they said "by the way due to the snowstorm our extra guest never came so we'd like to alter it back." So I told them fine and assumed they would contact Airbnb.

Apparently, not only did they not contact Airbnb, when Airbnb went to charge them the extra $89 for the alteration, their credit card was declined. So even though Airbnb already collected more than 5 times that for the initial reservation, almost two weeks after my guests left I haven't been paid. Because Airbnb says that until they collect the extra amount from my guests, they can't (won't) pay me AT ALL.

I don't know if my guests were running some kind of scam? It occurred  to me that maybe when someone makes an alteration request and then when Airbnb goes to charge them for the alteration they credit the initial payment first?? It's probably unlikely, but it seems like there's something going on.

But overall, I'm most disappointed with Airbnb not protecting me - and even worse - stealing my money! It seems pretty clear at this point that if my former guests never pay the extra money for the alteration (even though I asked for them to remove it or for me to pay it), I will never ever get paid. Period.

[Laura1455]

@Laura2592  İ am facing the same situation now as you are, Airbnb is not paying a reservation because claims the guest did not complete the payment yet, though in my case İ was not communicated anything at all that there was a problem with the charge from the guest, İ found it out when İ opened a case to understand why the payment was not coming, after they checked out then CS told me that they had not fully paid and until the guest does it they wont pay anything to us, how am İ supposed as a host to know they didnt pay if they would not tell me ?, İ İ have been sending messages to Airbnb CS 1 week ago and they keep telling me the same, no explanation why they let the reservation to flow, no explanation why they didnt tell me about any payment issue until after the checkout, nothing, they have been ignoring my messages 36 hrs ago İ think İ will have to keep calling them, also no response from the message İ sent to the guest either :(, reading about your case makes me fear if İ will fall into the same situation that will extend to months of claims going back and forth, hopefully they can resolve the situation.

[Piotr48]

I'm having the same problem. Guest altered his reservation twice (first he changed dates, later extended his stay). I noticed payout for this reservation was supposred to be yesterday so I contacted ABB. CS told me "the reason why you didn,t receive your payout so far is that your guest needs to complete the payment which dues after alteration." The guest is still here until the 14th and so far he's staying here for free! Unbelievable!

[Helen3]

Why are you letting the guest continue to stay for free @Piotr48 ? unbelievable.

Tell the guest if he doesn't accept the alteration/sort out the payment,  he will have to leave immediately  as he doesn't have a valid booking.

[Piotr48]

I contacted the guest an hour ago as soon as ABB informed me about this. I haven't heard back from him yet.

[Laura1455]

@Piotr48  at the end I got the payment, like 1 week after the guests left,a their stay was shorter than yours, I found out the not complete payment situation by the day they checked out. So after some communication to Airbnb CS  and calling 3 times or so, they were able to collect the payment and transfered it to my account. Worth to mention that when I contacted the guest directly to see if I could make some progress myself rather than waiting for CS only, I did not receive any response from the guest, but apparently they paid and then a couple of days after that contact Airbnb was able to transfer back to me.

I hope they can resolve your case, to me it scared me a lot to know that we could actually face a similar case at anytime in the future without any warning from Airbnb  as in the reservation they include no details at all that could let us know the guest has not completed the payment, we can only find out about it when the payment does not come when it should, that put us as hosts in a very fragile situation unfortunately 😞

[Piotr48]

@Laura1455  I contacted both CS and the guest. CS told me he will contact the guest but will get back to me tomorrow because his shift ends in 7 minutes... Thankfully the guest responded not long ago and said he paid the remaining balance. Hopefully CS will confirm this tomorrow.

Did you your guest also alter their reservation? I'm guessing this is the reason of the payment problem. Now I will be more careful with alteration requests.