Awaiting Payment ABUSE!

[Robert973]

There's a problem that comes up frequently, where a potential Guest books a room, but does not have a valid form of payment. When this happens, AIRBNB's current policy allows the potential Guest to block the dates of the Host's calendar without offering a good faith payment that complies with the Cancelation Policy.

They can hold dates and block up the calendar, right up to the Check-in date, EVEN LATE IN THE DAY WELL AFTER CHECK-IN TIME, and then, suddenly cancel without any consequences. Normally, they should lose their first day's payment and half of the following days, but it's a loophole that can be used to avoid any loss in accordance with the Cancelation Policy.

This frequent scenario causes harm to the Host, whose calendar was blocked by the potential Guest without any responsibility or loss. I believe AIRBNB should never accept any reservation without payment, or at least, never do so within the 5-day period immediately before the Check-in time. This would comply with the Cancelation Policy and protect the Hosts from such abuse and harm. I hope they'll consider adjusting the Policy, as such.

[LaMaison1]

Hi Robert

next time using your credit card to make few instant bookings as a guest, and don’t process the  payment, waiting for time end naturally of each booking...... Just for a play on that, see how Airbnb will do.... actually I am going to try now, it’s interesting and May makes me happier.

keep safe 

[Robert973]

This just happened to me again!! A return Guest made a reservation... I ACCEPTED THE REQUEST and my calendar was blocked for the second set of dates. However, they apparently used a different Credit Card the second time, and the reservation showed as "Awaiting Payment". And when they changed their mind and canceled the reservation inside of the "Moderate Cancellation Policy" period (less than 5 days before the check-in date), they were able to avoid the normal partial payment. It's a common scam that many Guests use, and AIRBNB is aware of it. When I called to alert AIRBNB of what happened, I asked that they use the original Credit Card they have on file for this Guest. But no, AIRBNB says they don't consider it a reservation, even though (a) the dates were requested, (b) the reservation was booked, (c) the calendar was blocked out for said dates, (d) the Guest cancelled the dates - first in a message to me and then on a phone call with AIRBNB.  So essentially, I don't get paid, even though the dates are difficult to book on such short notice following the sudden cancellation. Why don't I get paid??... AIRBNB says it wasn't really a reservation (yeah, that's right, they can change the written definitions on the whim of any Case Manager)!! How does a Guest cancel a reservation if it's not a reservation?! Somebody at AIRBNB is confused. And of course, once a CM says so, it's written in stone and there's no appeal. SMH

[Joe776]

dealing with this now. airbnb sucks.  i can't contact  them without wasting my entire day so i'll just suck it up and lose out on the money.   or i can bug the guest like an annoying creep and be like "fix your money situation".  which of course i couldn't care less about. i just want the dates to remain open so someone who does have their **bleep** together CAN properly book.  jeez

[Mohibba0]

This has become a scam now 

Payment Awaiting:

This just happened to me, I am fairly new to hosting. A guy booked the room same day and did not pay. I called airbnb support 2 times during his stay, reminded him nicely(which he acted like he is calling airbnb and fixing the issue right there and then). The guy checked out, reservation is retracted because of no payment in 24 hours. and I can not file a claim, I can not request money, I can not report his profile and  I can not write him a review. The whole reservation has been wiped off of my calendar. At the end Airbnb just offered to call the guy on my behalf and request money which he isn't responding to. They can not red flag the profile, write up on the back end what he did, can not penalize him in any way or suspend his profile. So I think this guy keeps doing the scam and airbnb won't do anything.

[Robert973]

Right, Mohibba - We should never even see these fake reservations until they produce a valid form of payment! They should NEVER block up our calendars, either! The sad thing is, as you rightly said: "AIRBNB won't do anything," which I find to be their standard response to most issues that I raise. Very frustrating!!

[Cave0]

@Mohibba0 Airbnb seems to think that it is fine and dandy to block the host calendar before the guest makes payment even though the guest has to provide credit card information at the time of booking. 

It must be some futuristic business model and one day we'll all be able to walk into a shop or order online without paying and have the right to expect that the goods we're buying will be reserved exclusively for us until the customer makes up his/her mind whether they actually want to purchase them.

I'd be really interested to know if the hotels which Airbnb own operate on the same basis. 

It just demonstrates very clearly that Airbnb has no regard for the impact upon the host, but then, Airbnb isn't paying for the property, the utilities, the staff wages and so on and so forth even though these costs are incurred whether the guest actually books or not.

It's a very arrogant way to behave towards one's "Business Partner" but it is a path that has slowly but surely been followed in an attempt to gain market share.

[Nigel196]

Why did you let him in when it said awaiting payment?

[Jean6074]

I dont ever give them the door code and let them in until there is payment in full.  I have given door access before not even noticing AWAITING PAYMENT, then quickly changed the code so they couldnt get in. I think the scammers pray on new hosts who dont know yet

[Joe492]

I lose 4 nights last month because of this "awaiting payment" bs...when Airbnb going to fix it 😞

[Sky13 · Accepted solution]

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2411/what-does-awaiting-payment-mean

“ Hosts replying on web will have the option to give guests a 24-hour window or not. If the host would prefer not to allow a 24-hour window, the request will be canceled penalty-free for both host and guest.”

1.  Immediately ask the guest -in writing- to complete the reservation within 1 hour.
2. Then call Airbnb support. Request that Airbnb contact the guest to complete the reservation.

3. If the reservation is not complete within one hour, call Airbnb. Explain the action taken (#1 and #2). Then recite the policy policy noted above. State you are not willing to allow a 24 hour window and you want Airbnb to decline the booking with no penalty to the host.

This works for me every time.

[Nigel196]

Bingo

[Jean6074]

Yes, Iv learned this as well, but its still a big pain and time on the phone & some reps have told me they cant cancel it, so I call back until I get a host who know how.  Still a big time suck, but it does work, so thanks for informing others how to.  Wish there was a way for host to ban together and get this changed. 

[JonathanandCindy0]

Nope! Airbnb has changed their policy and guests can now use this loophole to block Host’s calendars even past check-in time up to following day if the same day check-in was booked. Happened to me in Dec 2023.

[Talya3]

I've been on the phone with Airbnb on this issue several times. They used to be responsive and cancel the reservation immediately but now, they call guest and then if no answer I have to wait. Airbnb will cover it IF you lodge a complaint in advance. I believe this practice is solely helpful to the platform and guest to the disadvantage of hosts. Agree with many on here who call on Airbnb to NOT accept a reservation without payment details on file and verified.

[Cave0]

Seems that things may have moved on a little since the original post.  I had many epxeriences of this where, upon attempting to accept a reservation reequest, a dialogue box popped up informing me that the payment hadn't been successful and offering me the option to accept the request and wait up to 24 hours for the payment to complete, or to decline the reservation.  In every case I took the decline option and in every case the reservation was put into an awaiting payment status.

Every time (after the first one when I expected the decline option to do just that) I took screen shots and called Airbnb.  Each and every time (over a periodm of maybe 12 months) everyone at Airbnb denied all knowledge of this "bug" and the best that I got out of them was that I ought submit feedback.

On the last occasion that I received a booking request where the guest had some payment problem, upon accepting the request it was immediately put into an awaiting payment status.

Airbnb tell me, in effect, "thems the rules" and that is how it is, refusing to cancel the reservation.

So now, you have the 24 hour cancellation policy forced upon you as a host, you now have 24 hours for the guest to sort out payment forced upon you - at this rate perhaps we should all register as charities.

Airbnb seems to think it is perfectly acceptable to behave in this manner, even if guests know they are required to pay upon making the reservation request, probbly because, as we all know, it's all about the guest with Airbnb