Payout Being hold by Airbnb

[Michael4637]

I have 3 reservation payout was being hold by airbnb.  What I see there is no issue for collecting money from the  guest. Then I called Airbnb. They said they have opened payout case for me and transfer the ticket to payout team. Now it has been almost a week. I almost called twice a day. I got the same answers like " we already put this as urgent. and the other team is working it" , then they told me there is no way to contact the other team except the agent on the phone to send them a message, which they sent 6 times already ( every time I called). I am really mad and disappointed.  I just dealing with a black box. and they take money from the guest and holding it and not proactively to look at the issues.  Anyone got the same before ? Thanks!

[Robin4]

@Michael4637 

Michael, I am sorry you are experiencing this payout problem, and from other recent posts here it seems you are not the only one. There appears to be a number of hosts in your situation who are waiting more than the stated time for your payout.

I can't say I have an answer for your particular circumstance but, because of the number of similar posts to yours, it would appear to be a glitch in the system which will be fixed shortly. These things do happen from time to time.

All I can say to you is, in 3+ years of hosting with Airbnb, they have never once 'stiffed' me for a payout!

I had a one month period in Oct 2018 where I did not receive any payouts, but the same happened to all Australian hosts. Mid November all our payouts started coming through again. In over 350 payouts, I have received every one of them, sometimes a bit longer wait than others but, I have received them.

Michael, I know it's frustrating but try to remain confident and pleasant when you ring them, I am sure you will get your payout soon.

Cheers......Rob 

[Laura2592]

@Michael4637  there are many hosts who are having this issue--   am awaiting a payout from Dec 22. Some hosts have thousands on hold. Do a quick spin around the forum for "missing payouts" and you will see a depressing number of threads. I am getting shuffled around like you. This is obviously a widespread issue and does not bode well for Airbnb financial stability. Someone is going to take this to the media when it gets bad enough. In the meantime I am sorry for this happening to you. I wish I had better advice but no one is helping with mine. The mod in this forum bumped the thread a few times and looked into it but i still don't have funds. I have had to contact the guests multiple times. It sucks. I am listing with another platform and slowly phasing out Airbnb. I can't trust I will get paid after I do my job.

[Robin4]

@Laura2592 

Laura, as I said to Michael, try and stay confident, it is by now a known glitch in the system and will be rectified, hopefully quickly. 

Airbnb don't want this to happen any more than you because each time it does, it causes a lot of collateral damage to them .

In Oct 18' all Australian hosts payout were put on hold for a one moth period....32,000 unprocessed transactions. We all had a theory as to why this was happening but we never got an explanation from Airbnb. Many of us (me included)  went into panic mode and I ghosted my site across to Homeaway/Stayz. That platform now accounts for about 20% of my hosting business Laura. I didn't want to spread myself around but I felt the need to protect myself. Now all those blocked nights on my Airbnb calendar are Airbnb's loss, not mine. They are nights that Airbnb do not have access to, and the ridiculous thing is, they keep sending me emails to open up those blocked nights so an Airbnb guest can book!!!

So this is what happens when Airbnb have a payout glitch, they don't lose that host who might host 6 times a year...that nuisance host, they lose their full time regulars, and.....that hurts them!

So hang in there Laura, I am sure the wheels are in motion and things will get back on track soon. The platform can't afford to lose great hosts like you!

Cheers.......Rob

[Laura2592]

@Robin4 thanks for your words of encouragement.  I need it! I rin a business and its mindboggling to me that thus happens in such a high profile platform. I do agree you have to protect your self and move your listing  if this sort of thing happens.  

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  It isn't a glitch in the system, at least not in most cases, I believe. Have you seen my post in Host Circle about the host whose guests called Airbnb to ask what happened to their payments, as the host messaged them to say she hadn't been paid for their stays  which had been completed weeks and months before? The morning after 5 of her 6 unpaid stays called Airbnb demanding to know where their payments had gone, the money magically appeared in her account.

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

No I hadn't seen that Sarah, thanks for drawing it to my attention. 

I still have a few contacts from my Directly days, I will try to see if there is a pattern to this.

I don't want to concede that this is just the result of ineffective lazy slobs! These payouts are all triggered automatically and are not subject to human intervention.  The only times I could see this happening would be when a payment was not received by the nominated release date and the system just didn't process it and staff have been either too overworked or too inept to follow it up.

I am going to do a bit of checking Sarah.

Cheers......Rob

Sarah are you presently experiencing page time-out issues?  Six times this morning I have had to refresh my page and log-in again. I hope we are not going to have a re-occurrence of that problem we had a few weeks ago!

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  Had a bit of the time-out issue yesterday, and there were reports, which I experienced myself, of the site being down for awhile. Ice cream girl again- error 500 and 503. 

You say the payouts are automatic without human intervention. But what's to stop them from setting their automated process to withhold a certain number or percentage of payouts in order to acheive the bank balance they want to show investors? Pardon my cynicism and all, but I have a hunch this is exactly what they are doing.

[David-And-Angela5]

I also have a negative showing in my account as well as 2 holds! I called and messaged several times with no response! I am frustrated. 

[Victoria2178]

hi there,

Did you get your money back. I am also experiencing two payments on hold. I have called many times and nothing is being done about it. 

[Joe93]

Same here . waiting for 6 month

[Kenny176]

My payout since 2nd March 2020 until now almost 4 months still waiting

[Tori2878]

The same is happening to me if I am going to message the guests to alter their reservations. To get a refund and pay me directly moving forward. I don’t think I can trust Airbnb either now 

[Trong18]

I'd been calling every single day for the similar matter, airbnb hold my payout for 2 weeks. Airbnb support ambassadors keep passing ball to other among them, and ignored after messaged one then never come back with the same person  

[Wayne561]

Airbnb is hold the hosts rent payments so thet can collect the  "float" on millions of dollars.  They collect the renters money and then deposit it into an account where they can get a rreturn on this money.  So, they are making money on YOUR MONEY.   It should be reported to the SEC.