I would like to share my experience. I thought I was alone. I thought my case was isolated and this didn’t happen to any other AirBnB Hosts…
On 29th Dec 2023 my ordeal of missing payments started. My experience trying to navigate my situation during peak Christmas/New Year period was exacerbated by the frustratingly endless standard replies from AirBnB. I am based in Australia, and I have just read in this Community under a similar search that this payment problem happens all the time with Payoneer (payment processing). The worst part I just learned is AirBnB just signed a new 3 year contract with Payoneer in September 2023!!!
As you will read… this is also an AirBnB problem involving automated emails and this also happens frequently…
As a SuperHost I had been hosting and receiving payments no problem since June 2023.
On 29th Dec 2023 I received an email out of the blue from AirBnB stating that my payments were on hold and I was required to update my bank details in order to keep receiving payments.
Thinking it was a scam - I went to my AirBnB app and noticed my regular bank details (the same bank details I have had for 25 years) had a red alert symbol stating they were invalid.
I was very confused and AirBnB gave me standard email replies with links to how to set up a payment method. They treated me like I was stupid and they clearly did not care or read my concerns properly.
Meanwhile - all payments stopped over the busy Christmas/New Year period…
I realised it was easier to do as I was directed by AirBnB and set up my same bank account details again.
After being passed to 17 different AirBnB customer agents, 3 full days of being incredibly stressed out, cleaning the festivity-mess of 21 Guests over this time, having to remove myself from my precious family when trying to deal with AirBnB and feeling like my intelligence level was in the gutter - I finally started receiving payments again on 15th January 2024!
After much stress and starting all over again, 17 different times - in total AirBnB made me validate my bank details 3 different times. My bank details never changed once - they were re-validating the exact same bank account!!! I was starting to go crazy…
Today on 16th January 2024 I finally received an apology from AirBnB. They said there was a problem with Payoneer their payment processing service. AirBnB offered me a USD100 voucher as compensation.
It hardly seems fair. I was denied payments. I was made to feel like a fool. I was patronised by AirBnB customer agents by them not reading my problem properly and the constant offering of standard replies and links that didn’t relate to my issue.
It caused me family problems during New Year with 3 full days of going around in circles with AirBnB - time I will never get back.
Yet reading the experience of others on this forum - I am shocked to discover this happens to Hosts all over the world all the time!!!
Why couldn’t AirBnB acknowledge, right at the start, there was a problem or glitch they were aware of and looking into?
Why didn’t AirBnB tell me this issue was affecting many people?
There is a big problem within AirBnB surrounding communication flow. Literally not one AirBnB customer agent knew about any payment issues that were either resolved or in-flight!
This is shocking to me and unacceptable for a tech company!
After my awful experience I think I have PTSD. I have blocked out my Hosting calendar while I consider my future as a SuperHost with AirBnB…
