airbnb will not accept our payment?

[Trish6]

Hi, can someone advise -

We have been trying to complete a reservation for a stay at an airbnb place.  The host is accepting it.  Our Mastercard has lots of room.  The rep at the CC company confirms it is good to go, but airbnb is blocking the payment.  I sent a request for help to the help centre and they do not know why and only suggested that we use Paypal.  We have paypal and have it ready to go but it does not come up as an option to pay.  We are in Canada.

How the heck do we pay?

[Chee3]

This is so frustrating and I can't stop wondering if this is some sort of scheme to get people use paypal....

[Aleta14]

Probably.  I stopped using my Paypal account six years ago after they granted a payment to an account I cancelled -- and refused to refund the money.  Paypal has been know to grant payments to merchants without question, so you literally have to use it as sparingly as possible and watch your statement like a hawk.

[Zhenjiang0]

Same here, I used my TD credit card but failed to make the payment. It works before

[Jesse117]

I tried making a reservation and it said it couldn't confirm my card. Tried another card and got the same thing. Called with my bank and they said they had no record of the transactions. Called airbnb and they couldn't help, so I gave up and booked a hotel.

Two months later I tried to buy a gift card and ran into the same problem. Again they blamed my bank, who has no record of the transaction. After 15 minutes of talking to people and 2 hours of  waiting on various holds they told me to buy the gift card elsewhere. I guess I'm done using airbnb!

[Letti0]

@Jesse117  Does the zip code on you billing statement match the one on your profile? A lot of cards get declined because they don't match up. 

[Jesse117]

Yup! Thanks for the suggestion but it's the same zip code.

[Letti0]

@Jesse117  Do you have a PayPal account you can use that to pay with also. 

[Jesse117]

I don't. And after constantly being put on hold and waiting for hours I gave up. I shouldn't have to work so hard to give them my money.

I'll keep an eye out for someone else who finds a solve for this or if airbnb fixes their system. Until then I'll go elsewhere.

Thanks for your help Letitia. You're far more helpful than their customer service. 🙂

[Letti0]

@Jesse117  I have one other suggestion and then I am suggested out lol...  Is your First and Last Name spelled the same in your profile as your credit card billing has. I just remembered an issue I had with a BOA card a few years back they card spelled my first name wrong transposed two letters. I got declined once and this transposed letters were the reason that place online I trying to use it declined. Only time it ever happened was that one place online. When I called their customer service the woman knew extacly what the problem was. I just change the spelling on the order to the transposed letters on the card and it went right through. I called and got a new card after that with it spelled right. Maybe AirBnB has the same issue with profile names. 

[Nirav3]

Thanks Letti, after your adivse to change name as per the card, it worked for me. Thanks a lot for sharing these details. 🙂

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[Issrar0]

Did anyone end up figuring out what the heck is going on? I've been going through the exact same issue the whole day! On the phone between my bank and Airbnb. So frustrating and I need the reservation ASAP!! Airbnb tell me they don't know what's going on and they will keep 'investigating' this!

[Joshua129]

I booked last month and my chase debit card worked fine. This month it's saying my bank can't confirm my card. What's going on airbnb?

[Stephanie704]

Ugh! Same thing. I litteraly tried everything. It actually happens to me all the time but I normally just wait a day or two and try again and magically it works. Nothing is being declined on bank side and in fact to shows card is verified when airbnb request this step. 

[Cara52]

Same thing happening for me - tried both my US Chase card and my UK debit card and its blocking them both.

[Emily477]

SAME HERE. I am calling both Discover and Airbnb on and off. This is getting so ridiculous. I just don't know how else to book and really don't want to set up a pay pal. 

[Isabella121]

I see this as a way for airbnb to get as much personal details out of us as possible. I have tried three cards - only on my last card did airbnb accept it, sending me an email that I can now use it to book. For the previous two cards that were not "accepted", I received emails that I have added these two cards to my account! So now airbnb has the details of three of my credit cards!

[Jay1700]

FYI to anyone that uses Axos Bank. They officially have blocked ALL transactions with AirBnB. They said it is due to too many fraudulent alerts they have received regarding AirBnB. They also don't allow Cash App for the same reason. Just FYI to anyone using this online banking institution called Axos Bank. 

[Jay1700]

The way I found this out might be helpful to any of you that can't process transactions. After having my payment fail multiple times through many vendors (Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Pay) using the same bank debit card/bank account to process AirBnB transactions I called Axos. 

After speaking with them multiple times and hearing the same 'ol "nothing is wrong with our bank or your card sir it must be AirBnB's issue". I raised the issue of my card/bank account not working with Cash App either. They said that was true and that they were blocking transactions with Cash App. I then asked if they'd could check their "blocked list" and sure enough AirBnB was on it. 

So moral of the story is ask the right questions. Your institution may have some unofficial list of companies they block and the Customer Service agent is unaware of it. All they will do on their own accord is look at your most recent transactions to see if any were blocked. However, this doesn't show their universal blocks of companies they don't allow transactions with. 

I hope this helps anyone getting the run around. We called our bank several times and AirBnB multiple times as well. Come to find out it is our bank.

[Dave-and-Deb0 · Accepted solution]

Hi Trish,

I would contact Airbnb by phone :1-855-424-7262 and they should be able to take care of things.

Dave

[Robyn-A17]

Yeah, Airbnb’s call center had never heard of plaid.  They had no idea how to help.  Eventually, I had my 20 something daughter use her card.  I can assure Airbnb that she didn’t have the money to cover the bill and I had to transfer funds to her bank account to cover the charge.  

[Trish6]

Day 4 of trying to resolve this issue.  Apparently Canadian payments are routed through a bank in the UK and our credit card company flagged the transaction as possible fraud. Understandable.

Days of phone calls with management at credit card company and customer help at Airbnb have not helped.  CC company has pre-approved the transaction for the UK but payment is still declined by airbnb.

Currently looking for another way to book our vacation.