Payout not being sent because guest did not pay for date change.

[Marina586]

I need help about how to proceed with this.

I contacted support but I am extremely unhappy about the results.

TL;DR; My whole payout of the 5 nights wasn't released because the guest did not pay the extra night he requested. Airbnb did not notify me.

Whole story:

My guest was a very friendly man coming with his girlfriend. He said he had to come to the city one day earlier and requested me to extend his stay by one night before his original booking. I made the change dates alteration and sent to him. He approved right away. Airbnb showed me the green "accepted" sign. He came, we hosted him, everything was nice. He left a nice review.

Then I noticed i did not get the email from airbnb about payout being released. I contacted support and I was told by the agent that the payout was going to be on my bank account by the 27th of June. That didn't happen, so I contacted support again and this time they told me the payout won't be sent until the guest completely pays for his alteration.

But wait.. wasn't Airbnb supposed to charge them or let me know in case that didn't happen so I can not host them during that night?

The way I see it is that: 

1) Who did their job?
A) Not Airbnb - they did not collect the payment. They did not inform the host that the payment was not collected, they did not inform the guest the payment was not collected.
b) Not the guest, they did not pay for the service they requested
c) only the host - who provided all the service, cleaning, communication, very good experience for the guest.

2) When the guest requests a change of dates it is not clear to the host if the request was paid for or not. Who gets penalized?
a) not Airbnb - They have already 90% of the payout, no problem there to wait a few weeks for the guest to pay. That money doesn’t even belong to them so they actually have more money than they should have at the moment.
b) no need to say why it’s not the guest 
c) the host - the one who provided all the service and didn’t get a single penny for it. The one who is investing in the business and was expecting the money so that they can improve the listing for the following guests and pay for the investment we made to renovate he house to have an Airbnb. 

3) Agent told me the money would be on my bank account by the 27th. That clearly hasn’t happened. Why did he inform me that?

What should actually happen?
=> All the payout is released to the host, regardless of the guest paying or not. Airbnb’s job is to collect this payment, if they fail, that’s not the hosts problem. They should deal with the guest because of their own fault and solve it directly with the guest, releasing the whole payment to the host.

Why is that not happening?

Isn't it outrageous that now I have to wait over a month to get a payout for a reservation where I was the only one who responsibly followed through?

Isn't it outrageous that I am paying a fee, as a host, for a service that wasn't provided (secure payments)?

[Diana453]

I feel your pain!

I experienced something similar two weekends ago with a guest at our 4bdrm, 2 bath house in Temecula wine country.

I did not receive the usual notification that the payment was released for transfer, but it was a holiday and I waited. 

Once 5 days went by, I called customer service and found out the second payment was not made because she did not note a method of payment. AirBnb reached out to her at my request and after a few days she corrected the payment, however, as of yet it's still not in my account.

When I asked the customer service agent why I wasn't notified that she hadn't completed her payment prior to the group's visit, he said in his text:

"As of now we have no work-around for this yet... the best thing I can advise you to do until this feature is made is to actually call us if you notice that something's wrong. We'll always be delighted to help you out."

Well, I guess until this happens it's up to the host to get in touch with AirBnB to confirm full payment and not give the guest lockbox codes until they pay in full.

Very frustrating, but at least my guest corrected the issue. We'll see how long the payment is delayed.

[Linda1056]

Our guests ask to stay an extra night. 2 weeks later they have not paid. What do we do. We provided breakfast, Took them to the ferry and even went back to ferry when they called to say they left glasses in our car. We spent hours talking to them around our backyard bonfire...What a blow. We feel used.

[Ange2]

@Linda1056    Take screenshots of the alteration request for the extra night that you sent to the guests, and the guests acceptance of it confirmed by email from Airbnb and send all to Airbnb.  And/or,  go to the guest reservation click request for money put in the amount owed and reason. Notify the guest that they need to honor the agreement by accepting it and the money will be transferred to you (if their credit card is still valid). If they have already paid I am sure they will tell you and even offer proof - then you can delete the request and provide proof to Airbnb. It is a huge time-waster but I can't think of what else to do.

I once requested money to refund postage costs for returning items a guest had left behind.  I eventually had to call Airbnb, no response from guests,  and ask Airbnb to tell the guests to click accept so the amount could be paid to me.  I did have some leverage.  I refused to mail the items until the guests paid me – they had been particularly difficult, obnoxious, entitled guests and I did not trust that they would pay me once they had their items in hand.  Hoping your guests are honorable and will offer proof of payment so you can send to Airbnb or they will pay up via the request for money.

[Jackie148]

It would appear this happens often in the favour of a bnb  if a guest asks to stay longer then get them to pay up front easy fix

[Dona6]

Hate airbnb. Cannot communicate with potential customers nor get a response on payment date 

[Bee22]

I am exprerincing the same issue. Airbnb didn't take any action further. They blamed me to alteration the booking. I asked whose job is it to take payment. Why calendar still block to this guest althought the second payment after alteration wasn't complete. I assume they didn't know how to figure out about alteration payment after the first one was completed. This case has been over 2 weeks and I still haven't had any case manager step in or contact me yet. I have called every single day to listen to the same story " IT IS URGERNT CASE AND OUR COLLECTION DEPARTMENT WILL GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU ASAP" bunch of BS. 

[Lauren629]

Did you ever receive any resolution on this?  I am currently going through something similar and am being given what seems like the run around from Airbnb.

[Sarah1556]

DITTO - I accepted a long-term reservation for 130 days, however the guest decided to leave after she check in because of her dog (however she did not actually cancel).   I reached out to both the guest & Airbnb Support as I was concerned the guest was going to be charged quite a bit AND I wanted my calendar unblocked.  NO RESPONSE for weeks.  Finally, the reservation was canceled, SIXTY  EIGHT (68) days after the guest physically left the listing.   I am still awaiting a coherent response from Airbnb and/or payment for the 2nd month and 30 days post cancellation.   

[Mike1952]

Same issue - we’re host from Sydney Australia and have been having a payout withheld for 6 MONTHS NOW (since June 2019). No updates even after we called Airbnb support using international calls a few times. VERY FRUSTRATING 

[Magalí-Sofia0]

Did you get this solved? I’m on the same boat for $10,000, waiting 2 weeks now. 

[James2353]

We finally got the payout for the modified reservation.
Original booking was 3/1-3/10 and they guests needed to extend through 3/31.
We got the 3/1-3/10 payout. Then we got a notification that the modified reservation had payment issues. We contacted AirBnB and they said do not worry, they'll get the payment. So the guests stayed.
When we still didn't get the payout after 24-hours of check-out, we contacted AirBnB and they said payout for extended stays are sent at the beginning of month. Still nothing.
Contacted guests and they said they paid and money is out of their account. We went back and forth with AirBnB and finally AirBnB esclated to collections.
We called every few days to once a week when we were told a specialist is on the case and that they are in communication with the guests for payment.
We FINALLY got the remainder of the payout for 3/10-3/31 today!

Advice is keep calling, say your piece evrey week minimum.

[Ronald122]

I admittedly do not keep a good account of what airbnb owes me.  i take a guest, airbnb sends me the funds the next day.  Except when they don't.  I discovered there have been 10 reservations, including a guest that stayed a whole MONTH, where airbnb has not collected the funds and does not want to pay me.

I have repeatedly asked them not to send me any  guests that have not been paid in full, and second, if they fail to collect money, its on them.  I have no control over the collection process....and airbnb should be 100% responsible for any guest they send to me.

So I am not getting $2000....which I have paid costs on and have paid taxes on it, as its included in gross revenues.

So I will now keep track of payments, and if Airbnb does not smarten up, I will be asking any guest that I do not receive money from airbnb within 24 hours, to leave immediately.  

Its much better for airbnb to not send guests who have not paid in full, but hosts should not be forced to take on collection risk.

[Sarah977]

@Ronald122  I have never not been paid for a reservation, but I have had the payments come through a bit later than 24 hours after check-in a few times. So I myself wouldn't go far as to boot a guest out if I didn't see the payment within a day, but I can understand if this has happened to you so many times that you would want to do that. 

But I also check right away to see if the payment has been released, each and every one. I think the longer you go without reporting it, the more likely it is that it will never come through.

I don't know if these bookings you didn't get paid for were last-minute bookings, or booked with lead time, but I've read many posts that indicate that non-payment from guests (as opposed to Airbnb hanging onto the money) is most common with last-minute bookings. Which is why I require 2 days advance notice. I want to make sure that the guest's payment has time to actually go through.

[Ronald122]

These were all non-payments by guests.  Airbnb offers flexible payment plans and the use of debit cards that "bounce" because it takes a few days to settle.    The flexible plans are for guests to pay in "installments".  Unfortunately, hosts are not given that information and there is insufficient followup from airbnb to collect the funds.

The point is that Airbnb is 100% responsible for getting payment and should be held to 100% of the collection risk. Payment to hosts should be made within 24 hours IN FULL, regardless of whether airbnb has been able to collect it.  They are also welcome to take the unearned funds back from me should the reservation be cancelled and the guest asked to leave.

(fyi: the "pending payments"  (in "transaction history") entries do not specify the reason for the pending payment, you have to phone airbnb, who told me it was due to non-payment)