Availability blocked whilst waiting for group payment - seems unfair?

[Elliot25]

I have just accepted a booking request (I do have instant book, but this guest didn’t have any reviews) for 2 nights at my listing arriving in a few weeks’ time. Unknown to me before accepting, the guest opted to use group payment for the booking. I was surprised to see that I was informed after accepting that the guest has 72 hours to make payment. My availability is now effectively blocked for those 2 nights for up to 3 days until the guests decide to make their shares of the payment (or not to). This is a booking at a peak period for my area, so to have the calendar blocked for other bookings for potentially up to 3 days whilst the guests sort their payment arrangements out seems to me ridiculous. If the payments are not forthcoming, anyone else searching for those dates in my city over the next 3 days will not have an opportunity to book my listing, whether or not the booking awaiting payment ever actually pays. Am I misunderstanding the situation? I don’t want to go off into a massive rant in case I’m missing something. Could someone enlighten me?

[Steve143]

Hello Elliot,

No you're not missing or misunderstanding anything. It's a bad situation for hosts and there's also a sting in the tail. If the guests don't pay within the 72 hours your cancellation policy doesn't apply as there was never a booking to cancel so hosts get nothing for having the nights blocked for 72 hours.

Steve.

[Shaun69]

Hi Steve,

Maybe I am IGNORANT but I did nor realise it worked that way. So what you are saying is I will not know a group payment option has been selected by a guest until I accept their booking. That is food for thought. Elliot I feel for you!

Regards Shaun

[Elliot25]

Thanks for your reply - it seems odd that a guest can block dates for up to 3 days, not pay, and then receive no penalty. It seems to be at odds with the option you get with pre-approvals to either leave the dates available or block them. I know it’s a bit different, as the split payment booking has committed slightly more. Hmm, it’s a poor situation.

[Debra68]

And to make the sting of a group pay a little more painful,

if the payment is not recieved in 3 days airbnb extends it to 4 days! Airbnb considers 2 people a group so anyone thats not traveling alone can use this form of payment. 

[Elliot25]

Wow, I didn’t realise that about the extension!

[Cathie19]

Hi @Elliot0

I’m sorry to hear from @Steve0 that this is the case for group payment. Like @Shaun0  I’m now alerted to the dilemma.

In the past I have been part of a group booking on Airbnb. We just had one person pay and then we all reimbursed them through cash or bank account transfers.

I can see that the current group payment feature should be there, but not at the expense of the host.  

1. Maybe Airbnb guests could be given a 24 hour window from the initial group pay received till the end portion is completed for the combined transaction. 

I think if they all agree in a place, then 23hours +60 minutes is long enough. If a booking is to be considered genuine, then it needs to be done in a timely fashion.

2. When we pre-approve a guest, they have a window of 24hours before it expires.

a. With dates closed.  Or   b. With calendar dates remaining open...

3. This is a business transaction and needs to be respected by all three parties: by Airbnb, guest/s and hosts. Hosts should not be disadvantaged beyond twenty four hours. If the transaction doesn’t complete in the time,  (24hours) they can remove the “pre approval - styled hold” status and guests will have to begin again. However, the second time around, the group option isn’t available. Only the initial booking party can book for all. Making the initial 24 hour period far more effective from a business stand point.  You want the  place, then make an effort! 

4. Alternatively, allow a group payment to take 72 hours to complete a transaction, but your host calendar should still be visible and the dates available to the open public, as no financial agreement has been completed. (As can be done as a chosen feature with pre-approvals).

The motivated and keen guests will have already sent links to those involved, and got a majority vote. So a 24 hour window is more than long enough.  If a calendar stays open, and the space is in a peak season, they’ll book quickly. The guests are not stupid, just unmotivated, or one of them is unorganised. ..... for there is always one!  Lol.... but 5hats the groups problem, not the hosts! 

[Elliot25]

I think they’re all sensible suggestions, . I’m not so sure the option needs to exist, though - I don’t know of any other travel website that allows payments to be split across multiple cards. In fact, I know for physical purchases in a store in the UK, splitting a single transaction across multiple cards like this is against payment providers’ terms. It seems to me to increase the chances of fraud, i.e. making many small payments versus one large one, as the case may be in some circumstances. I agree, though: sorting out payment is the group’s problem, not mine. I can’t just go onto Hotels.com (other sites available…) and hold a room for 3 days because I am going as a group and want to split the payment - I don’t understand it as a feature on Airbnb.

[John1574]

@Cathie0

Thanks for taking the time to write out your ideas.  Very good ideas.

I began a thread dealing with members experience with AirBnB Policies and Customer Service...

Do you mind if I copy and paste your response to that thread:  it is valuable for the discussion on policy.

Here's the link.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-Do-You-Rate-AirBnB-for-Customer-Service/m-p/712486#M...

[Cathie19]

Go for it John, the more discussion, the better! 🙂👍🏼

[Lorne3]

I just encountered this for the first time. This came to me as an inquiry to which I responded about certina details. Now it says "awaiting group payement" and my calendar is blocked off for those dates (4 days in July) with no binding commitment on the part of the guests who get all their money back if they don't pay in full witihin 72 hours. What if they had booked for a whole month? Airbnb should either change this to a 24 hour window or leave my calendar open until full payment has been made to Airbnb. Because i am on instant book, I did not get to accept or decline.

Does anybody know the asnwer to this - if various members of a "group" (in our case 7 people) each book a different location using this option, could they tie up several hosts for 72 hours until they sort out which one they are going to take - if any?

[Sonya6]

Someone just booked my home for 3 months of peak season. My calendar is blocked awaiting payment. They guest wrote back saying they were now not going to take my home but my calendar is still blocked. Air B n B has the worse host care on the entire planet. It was not always this way. I am a member since 2008. But they have fallen drastically since. So wich a viable competitor would jump in. VRBO and the others simply do not have the traffic.

[Cathie19]

Question to Airbnb:  GROUP BOOKING PAYMENTS = optional filter features for host and guest.

Maybe as guests can look and opt for this feature, hosts can equally “turn off” this feature? 

It is a fair business call. We are the ones limiting our clientele, or how we manage them..... guests can “ choose” through a filter, properties that have this “feature switched on”!

[Shaun69]

Big thumbs up for that!

[Ange2]

Cathie:  I did ask about that but was told there is not nor will there be any such option.  And the worst is you can't even cancel or block the dates yourself to make them unavailable,until the 72hours is up because it is not viewed as a confirmed booking.