Australian hosting payouts.

[Robin4]

Here is an sms I am starting to send out to my future iminent reservations. This is for reservations that are to take place over the next 21 days......

Hello ………….. This is Rob your Airbnb host for your up-coming stay on…………. Due to an internal error within the Airbnb organisation, Australian hosts have not received hosting payouts since the end of October. As there has been no communication from Airbnb as to the cause or the expected rectification of this problem I have to inform you, your upcoming stay with us has been compromised to the point where we are not in a position to honour existing Airbnb reservations. I love my hosting and will always continue to provide the great experience that has got us where we are, but, we do need to be paid for the service we provide, we have costs that need to be covered.

I suggest at this point you cancel your existing Airbnb reservation and I will direct you to another hosting platform where the financial transaction will be more secure. I have a flexible cancellation policy which means you will be fully refunded for what I should have been paid by Airbnb and I will undertake to cover some of the loss of any service fees that Airbnb charged on your reservation.

I am sorry to have to bring this news to you but, the total lack of any help or information from Airbnb has forced us into this! Please attend to this urgently and I will help in any way I can.        Cheers……Rob  

I am sending another sms to guest reservations in excess of 21 days to inform them of the situation and to tell them I will keep them informed over the next 14 days of any possible resolution that Airbnb may be able to conjur up but at this point their reservation is secure!

Gee whiz, and to think the payout side of this business was the main thing we could rely on Airbnb for....I have said it before....every day teaches me something!

[Stefan361]

Stefan from Cairns I am in the samw boat I received a message that I needed to change my payout method When I called the call centre an attempt was made to blame my end I did not accept the explanation and ultimately received a message confirming what you guys already know It is an Air B&B issue I still!!!! have messages advising me to change my payout nethod What a shables The problem will compound for me as I have 17 forward bookings Should we collectively send a joint email to them ? I cannot just sit on these bookings

[Robin4]

@Stefan361

Stephan I would advise you to sit tight at the moment, this may be nearing a resolution. I understand that some hosts who went against CX advice and did not change their payout preference are receiving proccessing advice of their outstanding stays....so a resolution may not be far away. If you must...... organise a strategy that will not subject you to ongoing costs without a return coming in. I won't say more than that.

We as a hosting community have been more than charitable to Airbnb on this issue. Do you remember last week Telstra had a programming issue which saw all the ATM's around Australia stop operating...you remember that. They had that problem fixed in less than 9 hours. Airbnb are playing games with us here....it does not take weeks to fix a programming error, and all this talk about "tirelessly working to fix the problem as quickly as possible" is errant nonsense. Its all just a matter of damage minimisation as far as the company is concerned, throwing as little at the problem as the accounting department sees as prudent!

Cheers......Rob

[Megan345]

In the same boat!!!

[Sandra126]

So has anyone been paid yet? I didn't change my method (because why, right?) and I had a message yesterday saying they were sending a payment for 4 bookings.

[Robin4]

@Sandra126

Well you are one of the fortunate ones Sandra, you ignored customer support. I didn't, I was told confidently by some character in Canada that, sure there are issues but the quickest way to get paid was to change my payout preference....."Can't you see Robin, it says your current payout method is showing in error, let me help you through this"!!

At 74, I don't need this, I trusted Airbnb, you go through life trusting people, trusting companies.

Your payouts may be on the way Sandra, mine are not and Airbnb are entirely responsible for that!

Cheers.....Rob

[Sandra126]

I will check my bank to see if it has. I am incredulous as to how this could happen with CX not having been given answers either. I need to trust that everything is seamless, I don't want to have to double check everything myself. I once had a long-term rental apartment as an investment. The tenant rang me to apologise for not paying the rent for two whole months. Well, I hadn't even realised... Another time I started a new job, after a while they told me my pay wasn't reaching my account. Again, I didn't realise. And it was actually a couple of months this time as well. So I clearly need reliability.

Yes, Airbnb is entirely responsible for this unlikely scenario. I will keep you posted as to how my payment goes once I have actually checked 🙂

If it wasn't for the forum I would not be aware of this happening.

[Kevin616]

---

@Sandra126 wrote:

If it wasn't for the forum I would not be aware of this happening.

---

Same same!

[Megan345]

Still waiting....and waiting.

[Clara116]

@Robin4 What a distressing mess to read about for you folks in Australia...............you are totally dead correct - this certainly best not be happening over here in the usa - Cause the impact of all these hosts would surely be a biggie for ABB. 

I am so sorry all of you are having to deal with this! And I get how helpless one feels when you are talking with and  dealing with others that haven't a clue - YET sit in a power seat - and talk gibberish.

HOpeful that all this is cleared up quickly and everyone can be back on track and enjoy payouts, and happy hosting.

From the other side..............sending warmest wishes of peace and joy to you and the other hosts struggling & your sweet wife Ade.

Clara

[Kristy43]

What a debacle @Robin4!!  We are set up for Paypal so our payments haven't been altered but I too would be furious if the money wasnt coming through from paying guests!!!!  Whatever happened to being transparent and honest rather than leaving hosts in limbo with bills to pay??  Hopefully the ridiculous sitation is close to being resolved....  fingers crossed!!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Robin4

Are you any closer to a resolution??? Has ABB contacted you (or anyone in Australia) about when they will start paying hosts?????

I can't believe this has been going on for so long!!! Totally unacceptable!!!! ABB should be made to pay interest and more for all the trouble they have caused. They should at a minimum NOT charge the host service fee for payments which were not paid out on time. ABB should not be able to just get away with not paying hosts!

[Megan345]

Still no payments coming in!!

[Kevin616]

Still no money or statement from abb 😕

[Megan345]

I am having the same issues and it is driving me bonkers. What is worse are the politely written emails back that offer no explanation of what the 'system error' is, or when it will be rectified.

And of course no payouts. Tha is excrutiatingly annoying.

Airbnb better have a decent goodwill measure in the form of a bonus..

[Lynette57]

I have declined all further inquiries and turned off all ability to book in the future until this is resolved. I will honour those that have already booked , Because If I contact them and explain what is happening  they will be cancelled and I will be charged a fee, (just a little threat here)  I will be looking at other platforms. Cheers Guys and good luck