Reasons NOT to buy gift card for Airbnb

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Dennis139
Level 6
New York, NY

Reasons NOT to buy gift card for Airbnb

My kids bought us $300 in Airbnb gift cards as our Christmas gift, knowing that we will be making a trip soon with my sister-in-law and her husband.  We selected an Airbnb  and my sister-in-law booked the unit, paid her share, and set it up allowing for split payment.  When I tried to pay my share with the gift cards, I was told they could see the money in my account profile, but I could not use it. 

 

Only the person who makes the initial booking can use a coupon, but the system is set up so that it will not allow the second person in the group payment plan to pay with a gift card.  This is illogical; what is the difference between the first and second party that one user can use the gift cards and the other cannot?  They see the cash in my account.   

 

Now my kids spent money for me to use towards my accomodations for my trip; Airbnb sees and acknowledges it, but won't let me use it.  This restriction is not divulged to the user.  Who knows what other limitations there are?  Now it is just sitting in my account until I book another trip; maybe in a year if I'm lucky.  It would have been a better gift if I just paid with my credit card and my kids reimbursed me.  If we had known this, they would have not bought it, or at the very least, I would have made sure I booked it instead of my sister-in-law. 

 

Do not buy Airbnb gift cards for yourself or anyone else!  There is no benefit to it!!!  Why let Airbnb hold on to your money?  Now I have lost the use of my kids' gift money.   We just gave it away to Airbnb to hold and use however they want indefinitely.  Regular credit card companies will send you a check if you have a credit balance in your account after a period of time.  I doubt that Airbnb will let me have my credit balance back ever.  What a gimmick.  Don't fall victim.

1 Best Answer
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

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Ha, and its a picture of the fellow in Belgium who's account this number is in!!!!! Fix this airbnb you have two people with the same phone number, privacy and security issue!

I am not in Belgium, I am in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and I am female.

@Anne-Marie374  It can't be because of the phone number, because a phone number in Belgium would have  a different country code. 

 

But it sounds quite weird, for sure. 

This is just a discussion forum for hosts and guests. Telling Airbnb to fix it here is pointless- customer service doesn't monitor this forum. 

You'll need to contact them and be persistent- they are quite incompetent these days.

Airbnb chat and phone support can't be much of help for this since they have no direct access to giftcard tools. To be able to get your concern you will have to contact the correct support under this article https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/981

 

It says there: 

 

If you're having trouble with your digital gift card purchase on Airbnb, let us know: 

 

Sarah4681
Level 1
Newark, DE

Couldn't you just have turned the split payment into a single payment and given the gift cards to your SIL to use for you? There has to be a work around.

That is right, since he has the giftcard he can simply send the giftcard to whoever is booking the reservation. You can do split payment if the booker has the giftcard under his own account. 

Janet1256
Level 1
Greenville, NC

So @Dennis139 , I also have a $100.00 gift card I was getting ready to use towards payment on a mountain trip. If my boyfriend uses HIS credit card for the initial deposit, you are saying that I can’t use my card in conjunction with the final payment? That really doesn’t make sense.

If your boyfriend booked the reservation it can only be paid using the payment method that are registered under his account. Since your giftcard is on your account he cannot use it to pay for the reservation. 

Stephanie
Community Manager
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London, United Kingdom

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Interesting. I had booked a 2 month trip on AIRBNB and paid the first half. Then I saw that my grocery store had a deal for every $100 of AIRBNB gift card you purchased you got $15 back in grocery credit. So I bought $3000 worth of gift cards and got $450 back. Then I deposited the $3000 onto my AIRBNB account and then applied the credit to pay the balance of my booking. It was great. I got a bonus of $450 that I was not expecting when I booked the trip. Everything worked perfectly. This was back in summer 2022.