Reasons NOT to buy gift card for Airbnb

[Dennis139]

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.

[Suzanna20]

Exactly what I am stuck on right now.  When I called customer service, they said I needed to load the card into my account, and then apply the balance as payment. How did you end up working it out?

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@Tri11 wrote:

I just purchased Airbnb gift cards and have a number and PIN. How do I redeem the giftcard?  There is no option to select gift card as payment method.

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[Brijean0]

This just happened to me as well. Was going through the process of book and waiting for the area to add gift card and before I new it the place was booked without my gift card. Adding a gift card to a current purchase is standard on every other checkout process I have encountered. It feels a bit sneaky to me.

[Naomi147]

Abosulutely furious right now. Having the same issue as we speak. They will NOT allow me to use my account credit of 500$ on my trip. They are charging me an extra 500$ instead. Told me I could “use my balance on a future trip”. No, It’s on there for this one. Refused to let me use it, refused to refund it. They’re just keeping the extra 500$. When entering a gift card....it says your credit will be applied before anything else! 

[Naomi147]

Got a call from them at 6:40 in the morning to see if they “could further assist me”. I don’t understand  why they would call back to refuse to help me with the same issue they already refused to help me with in the first place. At this point  they’ve already charged the other 500 some dollars, did you just call back to rub it in my face that you guys refused to budge and now I have a 500 worthless credit on my account?

[Jennifer1299]

I was just hung up on while waiting to speak to a supervisor, who I was told, would still not be able to change anything for me. Worst business practices ever. 

[Cheryl391]

Same exact issue!  So frustrating.  This seems illegal.  Im going to pursue with our local news station.  There has to be so many people experiencing this same problem!  

[Jennifer1299]

100% having this problem as well. I was told by thier support team on the phone that the only option allowed when using a giftcard is the split payment option. So you can only use a gift card for up to half of the cost of the trip and if the giftcard is not sufficient to pay that amount it can't be used. That the only way a $200 or any other amount giftcard can be used in its entirity is if 50% of the reservation is that exact amount. Crooks. Well, they can keep the $57 balance on my account and I will go back to booking vacation rentals through Priceline or another service. 

[Tim666]

They do this intentionally. Here's a great write-up on how/why they are doing it. They are holding on to our money. https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=6905234989813025462#editor/target=post;postID=740067323...

[Michelle1212]

I am so frustrated with this company. I want to say I will never use them again! I booked a trip and paid 50% at the time of booking. 3 weeks before the final 50% payment was due, I uploaded $700 worth of gift cards to pay the balance. Instead of using the gift cards I uploaded, they charged my credit card $700 on the date final payment was due. I have contacted customer service 6 times and each time I was told a case manager would be calling me within 24 hours. No one has ever called me back but I just received an email saying the gift cards needed to be used at the initial booking. The email put 100% of the blame on me for not using the gift cards on the initial booking.  It also said, feel free to use the gift cards the next time I use Airbnb. I don't want to give them my business but I now have $700 of gift cards!!!!

I am frustrated by two things, their poor customer service and the lack of proper warnings on their website bookings page. 

[Kim825]

I have the same problem, I upload $100 for pay the second payment, It won't charge my gift card, I just talked to their customer service, I was informed this policy, This sucks, I’ll never buy a Airbnb gift card again. 

[Tim666]

They do this intentionally.  Here's a great write-up on how/why they are doing it.  They are holding on to our money.

https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=6905234989813025462#editor/target=post;postID=740067323...

[Tim666]

Here's a great write-up on how/why they are doing it.  They are holding on to our money.

https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=6905234989813025462#editor/target=post;postID=740067323...

[Cheryl391]

I'm experiencing the exact same scenario!  This seems like an illegal practice!  And they have absolutely no customer service!  

[Randy183]

I have a trip booked half the payment was charged to my credit card on file and I wanted to use a gift card for the other half. But it won’t let me delete the card used for the first half, presumably because they want to use it for the other half payment.

[Carrie193]

I’m having the same issue. I bought  and Airbnb gift card for my girlfriend to use for traveling for work. After her father passed we were short on money and I tried to use cardpool.com to exchange the card for a regular visa gift card to use for groceries or other necessities. I called customer service but they said I had to redeem the card, first.... however, if I do redeem the card then I cannot re”sell” the card. They said they could not see the balance and I have to do everything online. Also, I’ve been trying to do it online for three days but when I put my information on the card into Airbnb it send me some weird error message  saying they cannot find the card in the system so if they cannot find the card in the system how would I even use the Airbnb gift card if I needed to stay somewhere I can’t even redeem the card so what am I supposed to do it sounds like maybe because I bought it in the Kroger and the the cashier didn’t swipe it right or something. But this is crazy how no one can help me out and I’m out $150. Whether I can figure this out or not. This sucks, I’ll never buy a Airbnb gift card again.