The Missing Payouts From AirBnB Thread – A Harbinger – Anomalies – or Should I be Worried?

[John1574]

@Lizzie 

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I read with interest each update and subsequent post on this thread:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Missing-Payouts/m-p/748918#M177369

Why are these hosts not getting paid in these instances? Some very substantial amounts of money in play from some very experienced hosts.

I see that @Lizzie  has been brought into the thread at least several times but she never states a reason for the problem that I have seen. Did I miss something?  At least I have read no explanation. If one has been proffered, someone, please point it out to me.

I would like to know why this is happening to these particular hosts. Are the hosts doing something to bring on this issue? I don’t engage in victim-blaming, but being a student of human nature I do know that people tend to create problems for themselves and then point the finger elsewhere to place blame.

I’m not looking for replies from hosts who are experiencing this problem but rather replies from AirBnB representatives who can adequately explain why this is happening to these hosts.

Is there a glitch in the AirBnB platform that all hosts should be worried about? I’m worried that it will happen to me.

As a relative new host of just one year, my experience with AirBnB has been pretty much flawless as far as their handling their end. I manage my listing, manage my guests and except for some petty guest’s petty reviews, I don’t have many complaints.

For the record, I use PayPal (which I find to be an exceptional company) and have no problems with payouts -- mine come on time like clockwork. Knock on wood.

But this thread makes me wonder if I should prepare to get out of AirBnB and take my listing elsewhere.

I plan to open two more short-term rental units and I’m really wondering if I should go with another company rather than AirBnB. The Missing Payouts thread really bothers me.

Can it happen to me? Why is it happening to these particular hosts?

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[Lizzie]

Hello @John1574,

I hope you are well, we haven't spoken for a while. How are things going?

Over the years here in the Community Center, I have been in a few conversations around payments, and to be very honest with you, I have grown to learn that there are a multitude of different reasons why a payment may have not been received. I do wish sometimes that it was just one thing, as that would be easier to identify.

When you think about how many payments are flying around the globe as we speak to hosts, what we see here is very very minimal, but even with this said, for that host that hasn't received it is can be very impactful and so it's very important that the reason is looked into by our Support Team.

It's very much based on a case by case basis as it could be something with the account, or a delay in the country that it's going to and also one interesting thing is for very large amounts sometimes need extra information for security reasons and sometime there may be a glitch and this can take a few days (especially if it is on the payment providers side) for the team to get to the bottom of and fix. 

I would always recommend contacting our Support Team for each individual case and they can look into this further and if required escalate it to our Payments Team for further investigation and it not necessary straightforward. 

I hope this helps to show the complexities of this, especially for us here in the CC to identify this without having the ability to look into it. Perhaps we can encourage more people to return to the thread to update us. 

I hope all your payments are going well. 🙂

Lizzie

[Costa2]

What you just said is REALY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It means that airbnb Is absolutely not reliable company.  The hosts should receive the payments in time and shouldn't know about airbnb payment system . Airbnb makes enought to take care of it . Airbnb should pay the hosts upfront , evereything must be insured.

[Kim293]

I agree with you Costa2, I feel the company should be able to come up with the payments immediately. I am missing a payout from Jan 5, and they have been doing nothing, explaining nothing, and apparently researching not at all. It makes me want to take my business elsewhere. If they cant afford to pay their debts for 10 days past due, that's a sad situation!

[Costa2]

Hosts should never know about airbnb payment system. Payments must be released in time . Airbnb should have reserve to cover every payment sent to the host, while they fixing any issue. There is no excuse for payment release to be delayed.  The scammers only do that. 

[Kate195]

Lizzie, you are talking the usual babble!  there is no one competent enough in the airbnb team to answer so they just prevaricate.  time you got your act together.  question:  what are you being paid to do?   

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Kate195 whoa! Rude.

[Vittoria53]

Time to cut the BS and get the hosts paid IMMEDIATELY-

It appears that you have done nothing to resolve the underlying problem, nor even to explain it. Granted that there may be the odd problem which is not the responsibility of Airbnb, but on the scale it's at and the time it's been going on, it's something that they should be spending some of their BILLIONS, on sorting NOW.

[Aymeric-And-Sani0]

This is a lovely email @Lizzie ,  but I have had outstanding payouts for over 5 months now, the technical team was supposed to get back to me on multiple occasions in Feb, March and April, and I still haven't heard anything.

I now have over $1600 unpaid since December, still showing as "Upcoming Payouts", this is affecting my business model. If I still don't hear from a member of the technical team soon, I will just take my business to another platform

[John1574]

@Lizzie 

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 Thanks for your reply, Lizzie.   I hope you are also well. 

 It remains baffling to me despite your explanation how people can be missing tens of thousands of dollars in payouts.  

 Could Airbnb list the top 10 reasons why a payout would not be made to a host? 

 That would be valuable information for everyone, and people would be using the information to avoid those problems which seems to be getting more serious. 

 Missing payouts seems like the most serious problem a host could ever have with Airbnb:  i'm sure if they missed even one Payout to me I would immediately put my account on hold and begin transferring my business to another vendor.

 It would also be useful to know where these problems happen most often: 

 in which countries do the missing  payouts happen most often.  Countries or states or cities, where does it happen most often.  And why? 

 What banking services are most often involved:  do some banking services handle their business with Airbnb better than others? 

 What type of mistakes do Airbnb hosts make that can bring this missing payments problem on? 

 Without some insight into why this is happening to these particular hosts, I'm afraid that eventually it's going to happen to me. 

 I can't think of a single reason why Airbnb would miss paying a host. 

 Can you list any specific reasons, even a single one? 

 I remain baffled, suspicious and ready to  move on if it ever happens to me.

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[Kate195]

ditto.  but how can honest people just move on.  i would if i could but i feel it owing to my reserved guests to keep their bookings.  

however,  i think maybe if we all cancelled our reservations en masse and told the guests the reasons this would generate quite a bit of flack for the airbnb incompetent crooks!!!

[John1574]

@Costa2  @Lizzie 

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No clear picture is emerging as to why some hosts are missing payouts.  Not much follow-up on the original thread.

I just revisited the thread:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Missing-Payouts/m-p/1070761#M262900

And I see that @Lizzie seems to be actively involved in helping these people.

I'm still curious to know, in any particular instance, what lead to the problem, and why it takes so long to resolve the issue.

Do certain payment methods lead to problems?

Do certain locations lead to problems?

Are guests making mistakes?

Aer hosts making mistakes?

What can hosts do to avoid this ever happening to them?

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[Kate195]

we will never know.  they have the knife by the handle and do not care.  i will be outa there when my current reservations are completed.  they owe me thousands without an excuse.  there should be a class action suit against them.

[Vittoria53]

LIZZIE, can you supply us with a list of possible people in Airbnb who are responsible for, or who could resolve this REALLY BIG problem that you have, or are they happy to have you as a poorly paid front man, hiding or camouflaging the facts, whilst they defraud hundreds of thousands of $ £ €, from innocent hosts.??

Please reply.

[John1574]

@Lizzie @Vittoria53 @Kate195 @Costa2 

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The relevant questions that I asked earlier in the thread have still not been answered, and it seems as if they should be relatively easy to answer. 

It remains baffling to me despite your [@Lizzie] explanation how people can be missing tens of thousands of dollars in payouts.   And it sounds like you have received no adequate explanation.  But you could pose my questions directly to the Airbnb people responsible for payouts. 

 Could Airbnb list the top 10 reasons why a payout would not be made to a host?  Read  my earlier posts on this thread to see more  relevant questions.

 That would be valuable information for everyone, and people would be using the information to avoid those problems which seems to be getting more serious. 

 Missing payouts seems like the most serious problem a host could ever have with Airbnb:  i'm sure if they missed even one Payout to me I would immediately put my account on hold and begin transferring my business to another vendor.

 It would also be useful to know where these problems happen most often: 

 in which countries do the missing  payouts happen most often?  Countries or states or cities, where does it happen most often? And why? 

 What banking services are most often involved:  do some banking services handle their business with Airbnb better than others? 

 What type of mistakes do Airbnb hosts make that can bring this missing payments problem on? 

 Without some insight into why this is happening to these particular hosts, I'm afraid that eventually it's going to happen to me. 

 I can't think of a single reason why Airbnb would miss paying a host. 

 Can you list any specific reasons, even a single one? 

 I remain baffled, suspicious and ready to  move on if it ever happens to me.

No answers on this thread either.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Missing-Payouts/m-p/1070761#M262900

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