Payouts on Host Referrals...

[Ling-and-Chris0]

I am a superhost with a couple hundred positive reviews. I sent a link to a friend who considered becoming a host for referral because we'd get paid a fee for it.  The friend needed encouragement and almost bailed, then I gave him tips on how to set it up, showed him our space for rent, helped him get the city and state tax licenses and answered all of his questions.  This took a significant amount of my time. 

Lo and behold, he did sign up and is now a host.  His first booking came in November and was for a 2 month stay.  I thought we'd get a payout right after the booking showed up, but no.  We had to wait 2 months till the guests checked out.  Today I called again to see if any progress had been made on our payout and got a snitty, condescending, bill-collectoresque customer service rep named Diana who I ended up yelling at.  I insisted on talking to her supervisor and he was less inflamitory, but the message was the same.  There is a 15 business day (not including weekends or holidays) hold on the payout while they review it for authenticity.  Really?!!!  The booking is over!

Airbnb was paid the entire amount in November, the host was paid in December and I won't see this referral fee until probably March!!!  I will never refer another host again.  I have done it 3 times and have never gotten the payout I was supposed to.  Airbnb need to do a much better job marketing and structuring these offers.  They feel like a big rip off to me and I am an Airbnb enthousiast.  After being a host for 4 years, I think signing up new hosts should be part of their marketing plan.  Instead, here I am telling you to skip that referral link.  It is a waste of time and will only cause you stress.

Ling

[Gordon0]

@Ling-and-Chris0 I have referred two hosts and have recieved (after the stay/ratification) the payout. While waiting for payments for anything can be frustrating, I don't find "yelling" at someone (who is merely doing their job/following protocol) is a) helpful or b) very nice. 

[Lindsay290]

It's a total scam! There are SO MANY ways they can GET OUT OF PAYING YOU, which are NOT listed anywhere. Would NEVER refer anyone again. And getting help? Forget it! They just kept disconnecting my request for assistance afterwards! And when I asked to speak to a supervisor about it, they just never responded again! Lol! TOTALLY disrespectful and unhelpful.

A couple of the agents I have dealt with over the last 1.5 years have been really nice and have tried really hard to help, but only a couple. But the majority of the so-called customer service people are IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. They don't know, or can't figure out what the cause of the issue is, so instead of digging and getting to the bottom of it, or asking someone for advice, they just GUESS and hope you accept their answer without further challenge! Or they keep saying things you've already explained can't possibly be the cause for reasons x, y, and z. It's EXTRAORDINARILY frustrating. No one ever follows up, no one takes responsibility, you just have to keep trying until you get one of the good people who actually care to help you. Sadly, they are few and far between. 😞

[Susan17]

@Lindsay290 

Countless thousands of hosts and guests routinely being  cheated out of referral bonuses, travel vouchers and even gift cards cannot, in all conscience, still be passed off as an occasional slip-up or an unfortunate aberration - it's rampant practice on the platform, and has been for years. Airbnb is, of course, fully aware of the issue, and of the pitfalls users are encountering, yet in all this time, have done absolutely nothing to rectify or clarify the situation. That tells us all we need to know, really.

Here are just a few hundred examples of users who have lost out, dating from as far back as 2015, right up to the present day...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Host-referral-fee/td-p/333888

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/I-referred-a-host-and-didn-t-get-a-referral-payment/td-p/21...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Host-Referral-Program/td-p/138425/page/4

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/I-am-not-given-travel-credit-for-a-successful-host-refer...

 https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Referring-Hosts/td-p/296726

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Didn-t-receive-my-travel-credit-though-one-of-my-referrals/...

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Travel-Credit-not-given/td-p/353564

 https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Coupon-lost-after-cancel/td-p/559221

[Robin4]

@Ling-and-Chris0 

Yeah guys, I have been dudded twice, there is always some reason why I didn't end up with that much vaulted host referral payout, which I have to duck and weave my way around every time I press 'submit' on a host review of a guest!.

I didn't recommend them the right way. I didn't use the required referral link. The new hosts first listing was not of sufficient size, didn't happen in the required time frame, new hosts identity couldn't be verified.....despite the fact he has a confirmed Airbnb guest reservation!

The list of excuses rivals the size of the 'Terms of Service'!!

Ling & Chris, it's a marketing tool, same as the 1 million dollar host protection scheme. I am quite sure some users get some minuscule benefit out of it at odd times but, Airbnb make sure the revenue that bit of promotion drags in far outweighs the promised payouts that might come from it!

Get on with your life and put that referral down to experience, I won't use it again and I don't recommend anyone else use it.....it's purely good ol' Airbnb marketing!

Cheers......Rob 

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

Some might call it good ol' marketing, Rob - others would call it an out-and-out scam. 

[Robin4]

@Susan17 

Susan, how dare you......Airbnb would never be involved in a........'scam'!

Surely you have seen enough of the Q&A,s by now to know that, a mans word is his bond!

Or is my thinking coming about because we here in Oz  are 'down under' and having all that blood rush to our heads for a considerable amount of time tends to loosen our grasp on reality!!

Out and out scam......Susan wash your mouth out!

Cheers.......Rob

[Susan17]

@Robin4

Lol! I know, Rob - I know! I really should button it! But I can't help myself.. seeing so, so many people get ripped off like this - for years on end - while Airbnb slither through all their slimy little"loopholes" time and time again, to renege on their "promises" and wriggle out of paying up, just brings out the demon in me... 😉

It honestly blows my mind that any company is permitted to keep pulling these underhand stunts, over and over again - over prolonged periods of time - to blatantly and knowingly hoodwink people into believing they'll be receiving  something - often of substantial value... when in reality, the company actually has little or no intention of honouring their promised juicy sign-up or retention incentives (and they have a raft of carefully crafted, fine-printed get-out clauses to prove it)

There's only ever one lucky winner/beneficiary in any of these scenarios - be it with unpaid referral bonuses, or denied/lost travel vouchers and gift cards - and here's a clue... It's never the guest. And it's never the host. 

Call it marketing, call it scamming, call it perfectly legal, call it deeply unethical, call it "just business", call it unconscionable behaviour, call it what you will.. in any man's language, it still leaves a nasty, nasty taste in the mouth... 

Pass that bucket of soapy water over here then Rob.. 😉

[Lizzie · Accepted solution]

Hello @Susan17, @Robin4 and @Lindsay290,

Ooo this doesn't sounds good, I'm sorry you have missed out on referral credit/payments when you expected to get it–I can understand your frustration. 

I believe though that fundamentally the referral program is meant to be something positive for all involved, guest/host/Airbnb so hopefully you won't loose faith in it. I agree with you though that improvements around how it is communicated and making sure that you as the referee know what you are going to get at the end of it, could be improved.

Mind you if you are like me, I've recommended quite a few people over the years and after they've joined, stayed, stayed again and perhaps told their friends, I've thought ah, I should have given them my link! Nothing can help me there though - hehe! 🙂 

I've fed the feedback you have shared here over to the team who is responsible for the communication around referrals. It would be great to hear any ideas you have on how you would like changes to be made so it's clearer for everyone. Perhaps you have spotted something in particular that you think confuses the matter or perhaps in general you would like improvements to the referral program. 

Any help you can provide would be really great. 

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Robin4]

@Lizzie 

Lizzie we feel a bit ripped off because we are told it is so simple.....just recommend a friend, or two, or three, or more and just watch the money come rolling in....anything up to a maximum of $5,000 per user!

Possum, it doesn't happen, the reality is that there are just too many roadblocks put in the way. I have thought I was doing everything right. My desire was to introduce to Airbnb another host and that coupon at the end of it was a bonus for being a great company promoter!

My recommended humans became Airbnb hosts but, a check of my coupon credits will reveal  that none of them ended up gaining me any monetary reward.

Lizzie, I don't bother any more, it's just not worth the time and effort! These people are not familiar with the platform and require a lot of time getting up to speed....and when no acknowledgement comes back from the company you just rite it off as another con!

Sorry Lizzie, that's the way we feel!

Cheers......Rob 

[Tom-Feldman0]

Ahhhh, $5,000 maximum. I was wondering why we just all of the sudden stopped receiving referral credits. Bummer. Thanks for clearing that up for us at least. 

[Lorraine289]

Hi Tom

As a matter of interest. Did you get as much as $5000 before you stopped receiving referral credits?

[Rosey6]

Been am avid Airbnb traveler for 5 plus years. Have given several referral codes to travel to friends and never once got a credit. But never felt like taking the time to sit down and mess with people tonget it figured out.

I opened up my previous home while we were selling it, as an Airbnb. When we closed it for selling purposes, I helped my friend get his up and running. Explained the platform, calender, helped decorate, gave him furniture etc. Very time consuming but hes a dear friend and was happy to do so. Plus i.figured the referral would be a good kick back to go towards my fiance and I upcoming honeymoon.

Just as my travel codes never worked, this one didnt either. I have used referral codes with other companies and never had this sort of issue. I will be more likely to refer other similar platforms over Airbnb that dont have this issue. Which sucks because I adore traveling with Airbnb and the community. Normally all of my interactions with Airbnb is stellar. This is not one of them.

[Maria13330]

Same has now happened to me and my brother after he referred me. No bonus for him. Seems this is a regular occurrence with airbnb 

[Kimberly730]

@Ling-and-Chris0 

@Robin4

@Rosey6

@Susan17

@Lindsay290

I am prompted after every single guest review, that if I refer someone to host with Airbnb, I will receive $432 and they will get $40. So I did refer a couple of friends. They used my link, listed their place, and none of us received any money.

I called Airbnb and they said "due to Covid, the program has been put on hold". Which makes absolutely no sense because my business with Airbnb has been extremely busy this whole time. Also, I have been prompted with this referral sign at least 70 times since Covid started. Why didn't they take it down or at least amend it to say it's currently on hold.

Now I'm reading people saying they've been doing this for years, so what they told me is obviously untrue. What they are doing is false advertising. I will be taking this to the Better Business Bureau. If this has happened to you, you should as well.