Airbnb Doesn’t Collect - Says Not Responsible

[Rodric-And-Lesliann0]

We had a 3 day reservation which altered to a 4 day. AFTER the guest checks out we get an email from Airbnb that they couldn’t collect payment AND aren’t responsible for doing so. 

We have no way of collecting payment, so how can we be held responsible when Airbnb fails to collect AND doesnt let us know until after the guest has left??

[Jeff158]

@Rodric-And-Lesliann0 Its all in the Terms of service, the contract is between you and the guest, if the guest don't pay, you don't get paid.

Its one of the reasons some hosts ask for ID on arrival.

Airbnb Payments’ obligation to pay the Providing Member is subject to and conditional upon successful receipt of the associated payments from Purchasing Members

https://www.airbnb.ie/terms/payments_terms#sec9

[Rodric-And-Lesliann0]

Be that as it may, if I have no way of collecting from the guest, and they don’t let me know till after the guest is gone that there was an issue, how am I at fault. Can I just go back to the guest and have them pay me via PayPal? And avoid Airbnb’s fees? Since I’m now responsible for collecting? Of course not. And what exactly am I supposed to do with someone’s ID? Hang it at the supermarket and let the townspeople know they write bad checks? 

[Jeff158]

@Rodric-And-Lesliann0 you're not at fault, It takes airbnb 24hrs to process a card payment, any booking that is starting within 24hrs is open to a fraudulant transaction.

You could go back to the guest and ask them to pay via paypal, you could ring them if you've the guests phone number, or send a payment request from paypal if you have the guests e-mail, you would not be avoiding airbnb fees, airbnb failed to collect.

Without the guests contact details you can't chase it.  Guest registration forms are handy, should be something similar to below in your area

https://www.outofeden.co.uk/products/6007/out-of-eden-guest-registration-cards

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Ok @Jeff158 ,I can understand ABB needs 24 h to check the credit card, but this group of guests stayed 4 days at @Rodric-And-Lesliann0 's place and Airbnb didn't inform them about the payment nor canceled this booking. This is weird.

Airbnb is in charge of payments, we are not allowed to collect it by ourselves so it is their responsibility to collect  it, or cancel the reservation and reimburse the host.

[Jeff158]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 the booking was for 3days and extended to 4days, I presumed the guests  extended the stay on the 3rd day as I can see no other reason for non payment.

We do need a bit of clarity @Rodric-And-Lesliann0

Did you get paid for the 3 days and not the extra day or did you not get paid for all 4 days.

[Rodric-And-Lesliann0]

They did not collect anything at all.

[Jeff158]

@Rodric-And-Lesliann0  It doesn't happen often, some eventually get paid others don't. How many days was it between booking and checking in, if it was a few days, airbnb had time to cancel the booking so are slightly responsible.

As @Branka-and-Silvia0 say very wierd

It appears from the posts below that the alteration request is messing up payments, Stewart the poster got paid eventually.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Unable-to-collect-payment/m-p/365544#M83304

[Lisa723]

@Rodric-And-Lesliann0 do you know whether the guest is willing to pay? I would try using the resolution center to request the amount they owe, then if they do not respond/pay, hit the "involve airbnb" button. Multiple runs at Airbnb often seem to be necessary to achieve the right outcome.

[Huma0]

@Lisa723

When you say multiple runs, could you clarify? Say, for example, you have involved Airbnb, but they say they could not get hold of the guest and therefore cannot collect payment, then close the case, would it be worthwile trying to open a new request for the money, seeing as the 'case is closed' so the host cannot reopen the original one?

In this example, I am talking about unpaid additional fees that the guest is ignoring. I am probably not going to bother as it's more stress than it's worth every time I get a nonsensical answer back from Airbnb, but would be useful to know if the same thing happens in the future.

[Lisa723]

@Huma0 I just meant that different CS agents seem to often have very different stances.

[Huma0]

Hi @Lisa723, yes I understand, but what happens when Airbnb marks the case as 'resolved'? From what I have heard, there is then nothing you can do about it and another agent is not going to help you. Or, has anyone had any luck with this?

[Huma0]

Because they can mark it 'resolved' without your agreement and before they feedback to you, so it is too late for you to do anything about it.

[Lisa723]

@Huma0 yes, if you've opened a resolution center case that's probably true but it's not clear that @Rodric-And-Lesliann0 have done that.

[Sarah977]

How can it be in any way legal for a company to insist on handling all the money, being in charge of collecting guest payments, hold on to the booking $ to hosts for as long as a year in advance (for those who get bookings far into the future), collecting vast sums of interest on that money, warn hosts that they're not allowed to charge their guests cash, that it all has to go through the platform, then turn around and claim they're not responsible for allowing a guest to stay at a listing without them having paid?

It's astounding that they can get away with this.