Greetings all, I tend to only host traveling professionals that are in town for 30-90 days on contracts, typically they are in the healthcare field. This has worked out really really well for me. I have heard the downsides out here and I understand the risks, but knock on wood, I've only had wonderful experiences.
ANYWAY....I just had a traveling nurse inquire for a 90 day stay, but she asked if I could do some kind of payment plan with her, because she couldn't pay for the 3 months in advance like the airbnb app was asking her to. I told her, there is no way that could possibly be right. I have had many many guests over the past 2 years and there is no way they paid 3 months in advance. So i called airbnb so I could better understand their policy, so I can help potential guests navigate the issue going forward.
As it turns out, in the app it does require full payment at the time of booking, but if they go to airbnb.com they are able to pay in 30 day increments.
Right now bookings seem to be down for me and I have been trying everything I can think of to over come that, but seriously now I think I may know why. There is no way a traveling tech will pay thousands of dollars in advance like that. I am pretty sure I am loosing bookings (and airbnb in general is losing bookings) because their app is what...broken?
Also, I don't think it's just an issue with their app, or it's some kind of temporary hiccup in the app, because the airbnb rep (who was very nice, and very helpful) sent me the following help article that says you have to use a computer to book stays longer than 30 days.
I really think that there are many many many travelers that use the app more than going to airbnb.com and that fact could be causing lost bookings. Just very frustrated.
www.airbnb.com/help/article/245
