no-show - blocked night pending payment

[Kerry-and-Nathan0]

I have just had a potential booking that has cost me a night's availability and a night's running costs.

Yesterday morning a guest requested to book for a stay last night. I accepted this request (and, unlike when I pre-approve but can choose to leave the date open, I did not have the option to leave the date open; last night was blocked on the calendar, by Airbnb, for the guest.

Because I had accepted and the date was blocked, I prepared the cabin, turned the lights on and left the heater on for their 11/12pm arrival, as the time stated by the guest in his message (and I went to bed).

This morning, there was no sign on Fahad having stayed and as I see from my app, he hasn't paid.

Airbnb just wasted a night's potential booking by blocking out my calendar and also wasted 10 hours of lighting and heating. I had no control over the blocking of the date. Does anyone know of this happening before? I can't imagine my chances of making a claim are strong. I have written a complaint (I prefer to write than get tongue-tied on the phone with nothing useful to say).

[David-Erik0]

Yep, this happen because AirBnB have another one of its fantastic policies pro guests that host can not control but must simply accept. 

If your guest didn't pay it's because when he booked he didn't have a method of payment selected or the amount of money on the card was partial. 
When this happen, AirBnB allows to the guest 24 hours to fix the problem after that, the booking is automatically cancelled without penalty. 

Unfortunately this practice literally sucks when it's about a booking made the day before, because the risk is that the guest sleep without pay or your room remain blocked for nothing. 

This aspect that should be written in the T&C is missing. 

[Alon1]

@Kerry-and-Nathan0 @David-Erik0 

In the last couple of years I've increasingly experienced 'Pending Payment'. Moreover, I take quite a lot of bookings on the day. However,  in all cases, whether on the day or otherwise,  I never assume the pending payment will be complete.

My response is always proactive, immediately contacting the Guest and kindly asking them

to resolve this issue a.s.a.p. 

- In the simplest cases, it turned out the Guest just needed to update their card. 

[Indeed, it can be nothing more than outdated card).

- If it's not easily resolved, I encourage the Guest to CANCEL the Reservation Request and try again

with another method of payment. The Guest is often thankful for this advice.

In all cases, the bookings were completed without major delay. 

However, per chance the Guest won't be able to complete, then at least their Cancellation frees up the calendar. 

[David-Erik0]

@Alon1  yeah of course, when you know what to aspect but she didn't seems to know about the pending payment, now I guess she has learned and will act per consequence, plus a booking for the day after it's defenitely more annoying and require a fast and sometime frenetic approach than a booking within a couple of days. 

 I remember a guy that because of a bug generated by his missing method of payment and the instant booking, was able to book at 11pm for the day after no matter my settings that forced instant bookings to require for a booking, not to instantly confirm the booking.
I'm not a business and at 11pm the last thing that I wanna do is provide customer support or call AirBnB because someone else is too lazy to read and text me in advance. 
I was out of home, I had to call Airbnb who had to call this guy which basically booked without a method of payment because he was hoping to pay with cash and in fact after AirBnB called him he sent a msg asking if he could pay with cash-_-'. Moreover was also clear that he didn't have read anything of the listing. 

Then there was another one that was even worst and kept me busy on computer and phone for 3-4 hours because.

[Alon1]

@David-Erik0 

I also didn't know what to expect the first time it happened. So I phoned Customer Service.

In other words, it's not difficult to find out, and then you can only rely on your own initiative to contact the Guest.

   In this situation the Guest is far more likely to communicate quickly and be cooperative because they want to book.

re. Instant Book

      I don't do IB, so cannot comment.

re. Guests not reading anything, is very common and can happen in all circumstances.

re. Same day booking:

     Many Hosts don't like and don't do it.

     For me it's not difficult because I predominantly work from home. So it suits my lifestyle and  I can prepare a room quite quickly. 

[David-Erik0]

@Alon1
 I"n this situation the Guest is far more likely to communicate quickly and be cooperative because they want to book."

Reading to you, I would say that is random. In my first case, I would not define 4 hours of call and call back and wait and recall also made by my side, a quicky and cooperative communication, especially the infinite excuses he found with AirBnB just to take time.

"Guests not reading anything, is very common and can happen in all circumstances."

I would say that is not relevant. If I do not read something, is my problem, not the problem of someone else and so I do not have to solve it in his place.

Same day booking:

Many Hosts don't like and don't do it.

 For me it's not difficult because I predominantly work from home. So it suits my lifestyle and  I can prepare a room quite quickly. 

Yeah, I mainly work from home too, but the second time that is happened it was a bug, the first time it was a good willing gesture -_- in regard of the guest, if I had known  of the existance of this procedure, at least I would have asked to Airbnb if the guest had selected a method of payment, and as request it would have failed anyway 😄 as in this case there were only a portion of the money, the rest now that I recall, also for this one, he hoped to pay in cash.

[Mike1034]

@Kerry-and-Nathan0 @David-Erik0 @Alon1 

I have experienced that a guest payment could not be processed due to payment provided by the guest. And I received email from Airbnb and ask me to cancel the guest stay. One time I did not notice the email and until a few days later. Luckily the guest booked for one month. And I told the guest about the payment issue. He told me that he corrected the issue with Airbnb. But Airbnb still had the issue to process the payment.

Airbnb normally processes the payment 24 hours after the guest check-in. Therefore, we all run into a risk that a guest can get first night for free because of his payment could not be processed.

[Alon1]

@Mike1034 

re:  Airbnb normally processes the payment 24 hours after the guest check-in. Therefore, we all run into a risk that a guest can get first night for free because of his payment could not be processed

It seems you are confused.

 No booking can take place without payment.

Airbnb releases the payment to the Host 24 hours after Guest arrival.

[Sarah977]

@Alon1  In theory, that is true. But in practice it isn't. There have been several reports here from hosts who accepted a same-day booking, the guest had a confirmed booking re Airbnb, the guests stayed the night, then after they left, Airbnb informed them that they were oh, so sorry, but they failed to collect payment from the guest. 

[Alon1]

@Sarah977 

i don't recall coming across such a post. 

However, I don't read anywhere near all the posts, only those with Subject heading that interests me. And this subject would precisely because I take quite a lot of same day bookings or within 24 hours of arrival.

  Still, I only do it for those who are not first time users, so they have some history of payment from previous booking(s).

Moreover, the cases you cite can only be applicable for a one night booking, and the result seems to be that Airbnb don't compensate the Host even though the company is entirely responsible for all financial transactions.

   I must confess without concrete examples I find it hard to believe.

[Jeff158]

@Alon1 

Airbnb are not responsible for any financial transactions, non payment and chargebacks are the hosts responsibility, as stated in the Terms of service.

Each Providing Member understands that Airbnb Payments’ obligation to pay the Providing Member is subject to and conditional upon successful receipt of the associated payments from Purchasing Members. Airbnb Payments guarantees payments to Providing Members only for such amounts that have been successfully received by Airbnb Payments from Purchasing Members in accordance with these Payments Terms

Airbnb take 24hrs to process guest payments, therefore same day bookings have a risk attached to them.

[Alon1]

@Jeff158 

Thanks for clarification.

[Sarah977]

@Alon1  Well, I'm not making it up- have read about this scenario several times here on the forum. However, I didn't bookmark the threads (these reports were not necessarily topic posts, but responses in other threads, so unfortunately can't post the link to the pages for you.

[Jane89]

I had a guest book yesterday - didn't pay and room blocked for two nights - it seems booking  can take place without payment!

[David-Erik0]

@Mike1034  I agree with @Alon1 I think you are confuse or mixing with a different scenario. Beside the fact that if AirBnB ask you to cancel, you may incour in a penalty, it should be AirBnB to cancel by admin side but anyway it works in this way:

- Guest choose a method of payment

if there are the necessary funds

- Airbnb collect the amount
- Arbnb release the amount collected more or less 24h after the checkin

if there are not the necessary funds or the method of payment is missing

- Airbnb send an alert to the guest and display a message to the host in his UI. The guest at that point has 24h of time to select a method of payment or top up his card or account with the necessary funds. If he miss, the booking is automatically cancelled 24h later without penalty.