long term guests payment was declined person still in house

[Melissa85]

I have a long term guest who stopped paying. Airbnb should collect full amount at time of booking even if it's a large sum.
Having the guest get into the space then cancel their credit card for incremental payments is a problem. I have no idea how to make them pay? Is canceling my only option? what if they don't leave?

[Victoria57]

@Melissa85 you should first of all talk to Airbnb (+1-415-800-5959 or +1-855-424-7262 toll-free) to confirm that the payment has been declined and assuming it has you should require the guest to leave unless they can pay Airbnb very quickly.

[Lynn40]

I would suggest you go to Airbnb's Resolution Center, explalin the situation and request an arbitrator. I certainly would cancel the reservation..  I believe Airbnb regulations doesn't not allow anyone to day in an Airbnb home for more than 30 days. Call the police if Airbnb is no assistance. Good and luck and so sorry for the problem.

[Victoria57]

@Lynn40 not so, a guest can stay for more than 30 days but the payment is only collected and released each month.

[Lynn40]

Laws vary by municipality, and I was mistaken in thinking that Airbnb used this same standard. Thanks for the info. 

[David336]

Sorry police can't do anything about it. Sounds like this is going to have to end up as a rental type eviction. First you start by serving guest a 3 day pay or vacate notice. And in my experience he will just leave it on the door where you posted it. Then you have to go to next step of either another 3 day or a 30 day. Then it's lawyer time. I know because I've gone through this process a couple times. Of course this is California law.

[Janine3]

Yikes!!!  Sounds dreadful, hope things work(ed) out for you! 

[Eloise0]

Melissa,

Have you approached your Guest about this problem? Assuming you have not broken any of your house rules or airbnb's, I would do several things right away: Talk to your Guest, hopefully he/she can try to rectify the problem, be firm and let them know that it must be taken care of immediately.  Remind them that they have violated airbnb's TOS.  Send your Guest an email through the airbnb email platform so that you and airbnb have a record taking extreme care to be factual, and well balanced.  Call airbnb, while doing all your coresponding through the airbnb email platform and lastly after you called airbnb and discussed the situation with your Guest if they have not rectified the situation ask them to vacate verbally and through airbnb email.  Do Not Cancel! Let airbnb  do the heavy lifting. Hopefully they have not been there longer than 30 days as your options and recourse diminish dramatically. The most important thing to do is; document, document, document, and don't break your own house rules or airbnb's.  

Good luck and keep the Community Help posted.  Be tough, you can do it.

Eloise

[Dakin0]

Hi Eloise

Could you please explain what you mean when you say "Hopefully they have not been there longer than 30 days as your options and recourse diminish dramatically."

What options change/reduce after 30 days?

Thank you,

Dakin

[Linda108]

@Dakin0  In many cities in the US, tenants renting over 30 days have all the rights of a tenant and the "host" is seen as a landlord.  Therefore, to make the "guest" now "tenant" leave you have to go through an eviction process that can last a long time.  Don't know if there is similar regulation in  Cape Town.  Short term rental has less regulation usually and is treated similarly along with hotels.

[Eloise0]

Dear Dakin,

I don't know what the tennant landlord laws are in your country but in some states in the US if a guest stays longer than 30 days they are considerd long term and are held to different laws and standards.  If your guest is a Airbnb guest and it is a Airbnb verified booking you need to work with them and your area law enforcement.  I don't know the particulars of your situation so I can't really know what your options are.  Hope you can work it out, if they are not paying you need to demand that they vacate the premises.  Good luck,

Eloise at Happy Trails

[Jason647]

Agree with reaching out direct to the guest asap in such circumstance.  Airbnb needs to initiate payment for the 2nd term beforehand though (like 10 days before) to give host time and recourse in case of declined payments.  That would go far in managing risk or collecting/holding a deposit upfront even better.   As it stands now they only initiate payment from the guest right at the end of 30 days, its a poor policy on airbnb part and not sure why they do it.  Perhaps its a blanket policy to avoid classification as a short term/long term rental laws.  Its not even in their best interest in terms of potential lost booking % fee on their part on-top of causing unhappy/ more risk host.  There has to be a better way in collecting payments before hand on 30+ day bookings.

[Ange2]

@Melissa85  I assume you have talked to them about it. If not that would be the first step, unless you have a safety reason not to.  But, how do you know that they actually cancelled their card?  It could be expired or many other reasons for decline, lost, stolen etc. People often forget to update their credit cards online.

[Melissa85]

the guest called me sept 8 and asked me to invoice her husband for the remaining payments and gave me his email she said she did not have the funds to cover the remaining 3 payments of 1800 ea. I said it was against the agreement I had with airbnb to go outside of the platform. I called Airbnb right away and received notice that airbnb was reaching out to her to help her change her payment method. This week september 18th her payment did not go through as she informed me it would not. Airbnb sent me an email that said they were again reaching out to her to help her change her payment method. The email also said I could cancel without penalty and also that airbnb was not responsible. I find it a contradiction that if I were to email her husband for payment I would be in breech of terms but airbnb is without responsiblity to collect the funds? Meanwhile as feedback for a more protective service feature, I would like airbnb to provide hosts with an option to request the complete booking amount at the time the guest arrives even if it is 7k. The incramental payments is a gateway for issues. In the Bay Area houseing is in crisis so guests will move in then not leave. I feel this scenario is not well thought out by the UX folks and should be reconsidered. My suggestion is to let hosts require full payment at the time of arrival "or" incraments if they want to be flexible (similar to cancelation policy give them long term payment options) but hosts should be informed that airbnb is not liable if they don't pay the incraments. 

[Linda108]

Hi Melissa.  From your profile I see that you are a very experienced Air BNB member as both a host and a traveler.  Is this the first time you have rented on a long term basis?  In most states, long term is a whole different set of regulations which may include that payment cannot exceed greater than a month at a time.  I decided not to do any bookings over 29 days as I do not want to deal with the laws protecting the tenant from eviction.  I hope you find a resolution to this problem soon.