I did reach out to my last guest to ask if the money was billed to her and she said yes. So, I asked her to contact Airbnb to ask to help me resolve this - given I had not money in my account from her deposit to re pay her with. The result was that Airbnb apparently told her to send me a request to pay her back the deposit. I have no idea what they told her was going on. I was basically forced to send the money back to her, while my pay out is still showing a deficit for this guests total stay!?
I understand it looks bad to cancel these bookings for the guest - by why doesn't Airbnb care that they have collected money from my guests that they won't explain where that is? They have not paid me in full, despite following their policy and advice to get the money in advance so this deficit would not have to occur. VRBO HomeAway doesn't do any of this and I get more bookins from them at a much lower cost of fees. I imagine eventually Airbnb users are going to realize I have to pass this risk of Airbnb policies to them to the tune of higher rental costs.
The fact that Airbnb has done zilch to fix this problem adequately for myself and my guests speaks volumes about what they really care about. And, it's not my property and the experience I offer to prospective guests.
