I'd just like to publicise how AIRBNB are taking forever to payout.......

[Michael-And-Mariluz0]

I had a rental that arrived on 28th December, so i should have been paid on the 29th December. Nothing arrived. January 2nd or maybe 3rd they said i needed to update my bank details (which haven't changed in 30 years!). So i update my bank details with the same details, and to prove how easy it is for AIRNBN to pay me they deposit £0.01 to my account 2 days ago. However 7th January today and i still haven't been paid. 

I don't want any excuses, just want people to know!

[Michael-And-Mariluz0]

So i still haven't been paid, and they say i should receive it by the 13th. It's a while since we've been proactively seeking rentals so i don't remember how it was before but  i thought i was previously being paid on or soon after the 2nd day of the start of the rental. Can someone tell me if this is the norm? Ie getting paid this late, i just want to know i'm not being discriminated against! : )

[Sarah977]

@Michael-And-Mariluz0 Yes, you are supposed to get paid 24 hours after check-in. But if you take some time to read over the posts here from the past couple weks, you'd see many posts about hosts not receiving their payouts. I'm not sure what you mean about being discriminated against, but I've seen thses non-payment issue posts from hosts all over the world, of all colors and nationalities, so I don't think that has anyhing to do with it. Airbnb just seem to be hanging on to a certain percentage of the payouts for longer and longer and they tell hosts to update their payment info or check with their bank, all diversionary tactics so as not to admit that they prefer earning interest on held funds to paying their hosts on time.

I've been receiving my payments on time, but I know a lot of hosts haven't. 

[Michael-And-Mariluz0]

Thanks for that, what i meant by discrimination is using the excuse that we are receiving money in a foreign country and hence the money takes longer to credit my account (like the cash has to travel by boat or something!!) whereas clearly they don't pay late with North American nationals.  When i phoned them they tried to tell me it was due to my bank's processing time at which point i thought it best to hang up as there children listening nearby! 

[Jeff158]

@Michael-And-Mariluz0 

Since they changed banks mine are 7 working days, so It should be in your bank 9th

30th-31st-2nd-3rd-6th-7th-8th-payday

[Michael-And-Mariluz0]

Yes i got paid today, but it's wrong. They shouldn't state  that they payout 24 hours after guest check in if they don't.  Come on someone start a new website called AirBNBpayout6workingdaysearlierhonestly. I'll move my listing over tomorrow.

[Robin4]

@Michael-And-Mariluz0  @Sarah977 

This has come up on another thread, can I please reproduce here what I said on that thread.

Slow payouts have been an issue for Airbnb hosts for some years now....well, ever since I have been using Airbnb. 

Their terms of service say they will release a guests payment to the hosts account 24 hours after the guest check-in......really! They have had that guests payment for in some instances months, but, 24 hours go by, then 48, then 72, then 96, and then 120, then 144......and still no money shows up in the hosts account!

Why exactly is that?

I also host on a site called Homeaway Stayz and their terms of host payout are exactly the same as Airbnb's....they release the payment to the hosts account 24 hours after the guest arrives! Guess what, they do! Twenty four hours after the guest arrives I have my money.  Airbnb need to be brought to heel here! You can't say something in your terms of service and then promptly ignore it and do what ever you bloody well like. That's against the law!

If you say the money will be released to a hosts account at a due point, make da*n sure it happens....you have had the use of the guests money for long enough after all!

The reason Airbnb do this is because every night Airbnb holds in excess of $94 million in guest payments that are yet to be released to hosts. $94m attracts a bit on interest.....It's all about making money!

Airbnb are currently holding money paid for a booking of mine for Sept 2020, do you think I will get that 24 hours after the guest arrives.......fat chance! It will be like all my other payouts, It will simply sit in my transaction history showing as 'Processing'  for anything up to 8-10 days!

Michael, keep us informed!

Cheers......Rob

[Michael-And-Mariluz0]

Thanks Rob, nice to think that some bell end accountant got his huge turkey and more for Christmas off the interest, very talented these accountants hey, who would have thought of doing that! 

[Colleen253]

@Robin4  "That's against the law!" Good point. Instead of benign complaints made on forums and to Airbnb, these kinds of incidents need to be reported by hosts, to an appropriate authority.

[Robin4]

@Colleen253  @Susan17 

In Australia we have a national consumer watchdog called the ACCC (The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and the duty of this body is to keep businesses honest, and they do a good job of it.

https://www.accc.gov.au/

The finance industry in Australia is controlled by a few banks and insurance companies and over the past 3 years the ACC have successfully prosecuted all of them for corrupt dealings with the Australian public.......fees for services not provided....insurance policies that were impossible to claim on, unjust agents commissions....and on and on! Billions of instances. And  for these dishonest practices, in some instances fines ran into in the Billions of dollars and heads of these corporations have had to step down. So the ACCC are doing a good job.

Surely a similar outfit must exist in the US and if someone felt strongly enough about shady practices like these delayed payouts they could take action.

But........ Airbnb always make sure they cover themselves, and in this instance, although what they are doing is wrong, they say in their payment release, funds will appear in our accounts within a specific date which could be up to 10 days ahead of the 'so-called' release date.

You and I colleen, and everyone else knows that funds transfers happen at the click of a computer mouse, but Airbnb tell us they have a multitude of 'hamsters' that run around delivering funds from one account to another!......

All they are telling us is, the machinery has been put in place, and is getting cranked up to get that payout to us........ soon.

So for that reason any action against them would be futile. 

Just one of things we have to accept when we use the platform I am afraid Colleen!

Cheers......Rob

[Colleen253]

@Robin4 Perhaps, if we're talking simply the frustration of waiting up to a week or so for a payout that does finally appear, but more often than not, payouts are being delayed beyond what's reasonable, beyond that 10 days....still missing, 6 months or more from the payout window. There are hosts who are missing payouts to the tune of thousands of $$, long after any reasonable delay. I wonder how many never received their payout. I can't count how many times I've seen a host use the phrase 'ghosted by Airbnb' over a missing payout. 

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

We're not just talking about a few people. waiting a few days, for a few quid here though, Rob. The harsh reality is - be it by accident, design or gross incompetence/negligence - thousands upon thousands of hosts are routinely being robbed blind by this company. "Delayed" payouts. "Missing" payouts. "Lost" payouts. Payouts that vanish into oblivion, never to be seen again.. very often for substantial amounts. And nobody  being held accountable.

Once again, that's not an exaggeration - the evidence is all over this CC, and all over every Airbnb-related forum, blog and group on the internet. Post after post from distraught hosts, many in desperate need of the money - their money, money they have earned, money they're depending on to pay their bills, feed their families, keep a roof over their heads, keep their businesses afloat - being wrongfully (and illegally) withheld from them.

It doesn't matter what bullsh*t, makey-up, cover-your-arse clauses Airbnb have written in to their T&Cs to allow them to slither through their slimy loopholes (T&Cs, by the way, which wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of standing up to legal challenges in most jurisdictions), this unconscionable, unethical, vile behaviour should not  be tolerated on any platform. If we were short-changed at the supermarket, or the cinema, or down the pub, we wouldn't just shrug our shoulders and say, "Ah well that's something we have to accept when we use these places", would we? Not in a million years. So why should we accept it from a $38 billion global corporation?

Airbnb have seriously lost the plot if they think they can get away with their reprehensible treatment of their host community for much longer. Once the media get hold of this (and they will), it will undoubtedly - and deservedly - do irreperable damage to Airbnb's brand image, reputation and credibility. And in the wake of the recent Orinda tragedies and the Vice scamming article, and in the run-up to and IPO/DPO, the very last thing the company  can afford right now, is more scandal... especially scandal that's financial in nature. Sh*tting on your own doorstep (or on your own community) is never a wise strategy when trying to woo potential investors.

The company appears to be labouring under the arrogant misconception that its indestructible, and above the law - but the court of public opinion is a vicious, fierce, unforgiving beast, and has the power to slay an adversary far quicker and more efficiently than any judicial processes. Airbnb would do well to remember that.

[Robin4]

@Susan17  Hey, you are spot on but, a company is only as good as it's leadership.

If you remember, this company started out of desperation.  Two guys from the east were struggling with work and covering their rent in San Francisco. So they did something highly illegal, they sublet their rented apartment. I will lay a bet they did not go through all the legal aspects of what they did before they threw around a few air mattresses.

These guys flew by the seat of their pants and there is an old saying, a leopard can't change it's spots. They still fly by the seat of their pants but, the thing they now have on their side is money. They will set up TOS, not with any legal legitimacy, but purely to cover their adventures into making money and they expect that by saying, 'in order to use the platform you must abide by our terms of service' they truly believe that is all they have to do to set in place a legal framework! 

Suzie, I am here because I am making money, I am lucky if I get more than 2 nights a month off. Call it selfish but, I stay here for that reason....If the time comes when I am no longer making money, the company dud me, or make it too hard to do what I do.......I will disappear faster than a cream bun at a fat ladies party!

Hey, meant to mention it to you before as I know you are writing a book. I wrote one in 2008! It was a murder mystery and it did ok but it was bloody hard work.

I self published!

No publishing house wants to take a risk with you until you have a name...and you can't get a name until a publishing house takes a risk....chicken and the egg!

It did ok, I ended up with about 180 copies which became the subject of polite dinner conversation, out of a run of 8,000! I am thinking of releasing it digitally this year, It's a big work. Here is the first of 1027 pages.......this was before it was proof read and from my original word documents, but it is how the layout looked in the book.  

and a bit further along, this is the end of chapter 3.......

The smartest thing I did was put the synopsis on the front cover rather than some eerie rough and tumble scene. People who actually picked it up read it and were intrigued and a good few sales came from that move!

If you are interested in getting the feel of it Susan, I will send you a chapter or two.

Cheers......Rob

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

There's a massive difference though, in someone flying by the seat of their pants when they're the only ones being affected by their choices and actions, and flying by the seat of their pants when incalculable numbers of others are being abused, exploited, cheated, ripped-off and having their livelihoods decimated by those actions - solely for the further enrichment, of the already obscenely rich. There are stringent laws against that kind of thing in every civilised country on the planet Rob - and for good reason.

I get that those who are still doing ok (for the moment), or who don't depend on the income, can't really begin  to grasp the misery, the hardship and the suffering that Airbnb's deception and underhand practices are routinely causing for tens - or even hundreds - of thousands of their fellow hosts worldwide, who absolutely do rely on their hosting earnings to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. What I just can't wrap my brain around though, is how people can read report after report all over the internet from frantic and distraught posters who are being royally shafted by Airbnb, and read story after story of how their fellow hosts are being systematically abused and mistreated, day in, day out - yet still turn a blind eye and continue to sing from the company hymnsheet. That just blows my mind. The truth is, it's the apathy, indifference - and in some cases, complicity - of the unaffected, that have allowed, enabled and encouraged Airbnb's tyranny and abuses to proliferate.

[Robin4]

@Susan17 

In this world you have reputable builders who strive to do the best they can for their clients, and you have shonks! Reputable builders started out doing a trade and gained a thorough knowledge of their chosen field. They started out as apprentices and put in the hard yards.

Shonks decided graduating from running a scrap round to building houses was a good way to make a quick buck and really didn't give a da*n how they went about it! Many of them didn't even bother to get appropriate licences!

Good builders never became shonks, and shonks never became good builders! 

Sure you can see my analogy.

I am not oblivious to what is going on, I dislike it just as much as you. I understand that the way this platform runs is to protect the income stream that Airbnb amasses, all the rules and regulations are there to advantage Airbnb, not those who have made Airbnb.

Now, I don't have a QC lurking in the wings, I don't even have the knowledge to mount any sort of a challenge to the iniquities that we see happening here on a daily basis. It's wrong, it's terribly wrong but I am not enabling it Susan, I just don't have the tools to fight it! 

Cheers......Rob