BILLING error (Requested reservation changes)

[Simon209]

Why is AirBnB attempting to force Hosts to accept less money following Guest reservation “Requested changes”? My current situation involves a Guest increasing the amount of people who’ll stay at my condo. The Guest was expecting to pay more (as per my listing, an extra charge of 20$/person/night for each guest after 4 is applicable), yet AirBnB OFFERED A PRICE REDUCTION and claimed to the Guest that I owed her a refund because of said change.

I spoke to a handful of AirBnB “dedicated case manager” and “floor supervisor” over the past month and each, after confirming that my listing was correctly set up and reading thru the message thread, deemed that a glitch was responsible for the issue. Additionally they:
(1) expressed shock and disbelief that this kind of system malfunctioning was possible;
(2) confirmed that my understanding of the billable fees/charges were correct;
(3) claimed that the anomaly would be rectified (ie: manually adjusted) to make sure I received the additional money that I was owed.

But now, nearly a month after initially reporting the issue, I receive an AirBnB “Payout of $ sent” email for the booking's inferior amount (ie: no manually adjustments were made).

Notes:
* two different Guests have requested changes to the amount of people staying at my property (in 2019), and irregularities exist in both cases. Has anyone else noticed similar issues on their listings?
* one of the AirBnB reps I spoke with initially blamed Smart Pricing (ie: price fluctuations) until he realized that I did not subscribe to Smart Pricing and that the booked price could not be modified by the Host.

I’ve used AirBnB for a few years, and have enjoyed doing so, but have noticed other irregularities related to my AirBnB bookings (in addition to the one mentioned above) which is causing me concern. Advice and/or suggestions would be appreciated

[Ann72]

@Simon209 Thanks for pointing this out.  I had a similar thing recently.  Guest wanted to change her dates from June to August.  I sent the reservation change using the same rates in the original booking.  She accepted it.  Then she wanted to change the number of people from 3 to 2.  I don't charge extra for more than 6 people, yet after she changed the number of guests, the total payout was $50 less than it had been.  Like @Nina75, I decided not to quibble, but I thought it was strange.  I didn't want to spend time with support over it, but if anything like it happens again, I will, because you've gotten confirmation that it's a glitch.

[Nora204]

I have few cases submitted to Airbnb the case managers make me waste my time submitting documentation and at the end they just close the case with a sloppy response I don't get it? I don't have much time to follow up in this cases but I am. Realizing I have to make time and submit feed back so they can have better training to resolve the issues with fairness and respect for both sides. 

[Weny0]

I have similar billing problem. 

Two days ago my guest requested an alteration from 2 to 3 nights stay. I didn’t pay attention to the billing amount before confirming the request because I thought it will be automatically adjusted based on my minimum price guideline. But after confirming, I realized that there’s around USD40 differences between my minimum rate with the bill.

I’ve contacted Air BnB and asked how do this happened since I do not change the rate or apply any discount other than weekly and monthly stay. They cannot explain why and don’t want to admit that there’s probably a system error but blaming me for not reviewing the request. If the price is automatically follow my guideline and there’s no system error, then why the billing is error and the host still need to review the price manually?

They suggest me to resolve this issue with the guest, ask them for more money. This is my first experience as a host and Air BnB already put me in this unpleasant situation. If there’s no logical explanation on how the billing error happened, asking for more money will leave a negative impression even before the guest arrive, such as I’m trying to steal from them. 

Until now I’m still waiting for the explanation — I just need to understand how and why this is happening to avoid the same issue in the future.

[Simon209]

I fully agree with you @Weny0.  When problems occur, AirBnB should make an effort to provide info so that we know "how and why this is happening to avoid the same issue in the future"

[Weny0]

Hi @Simon209 In my case, apparently there was a glitch. We’ve resolved the issue, thanks to Jhoan B, the Airbnb case manager who delivers excellent customer service. She said that Airbnb is aware of this issue and put a serious attention to fix this. 

Thanks for highlighting this issue! 

[JJ48]

So it seems the glitch continues!  The version I'm getting is actually more than I should get, not less.  Just today my guest let me know she wanted to add a 2nd person to her reservation for 2 nights.  I told her I'd send a change request; however, when I add the 2nd guest it calculates the change completely wrong!  My 2nd guest charge for that apartment is $20/night and she has booked 2 nights, so the price difference should be $40 total with a payout difference of around $39 something. I did not send the request yet as the numbers change to a price difference of $63 and a payout difference of $70 something - completely wrong (and seemingly random) and over-charging the guest. Anyways, I haven't sent the request yet as I want to call in to Airbnb but don't have time until later.  

[Simon209]

Please let me know if they (AirBnB telephone support) offer a believable explanation.  Good luck!

[Simon209]

@JJ48 : how did things turn out for you?

[JJ48]

I ended up just calculating what the difference should be overall and changing the entire price. It went through alright that way.  I didn't ever call in to Airbnb.  Since this post, I have had to add extra guests and it has been "normal".  I'm assuming it was just a glitch that day. Are you still having trouble?

[Simon209]

@JJ48 : if the Guest wants to add people to the reservation, pricing errors occur EVERY SINGLE TIME.  I've recently noticed it 10 times, and only once did the Host not get badly shafted.  It doesn’t seem to matter who (Host or Guest) initiates the change.

Here's the link to the new discussion: community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Pricing-ERROR-every-time-that-the-number-of-Guest-s-is-chang...

[JJ48]

Wow, that is awful.  I only had a problem that one day but did report it.  I always do the changes for the guest.  You might consider that, so at least you have control over it - you can check price before it goes through.  Also, you don't have to accept a reservation change request that a guest sends.  If it's incorrect just decline the change and then send the guest a change with the correct pricing.  Obviously, it would be nice if they fixed it but just some work-arounds in the meantime.

[Simon209]

@Oad0 @Weny0 @Nora204 @Ann72 @JJ48 @Nina75 @Alice595 @Jeff158 : just to let you know that the pricing problem (when Guests want to add people to reservation), is, for some, a regularly occurring phenomenon.

In my case, pricing errors occurred EVERY SINGLE TIME of the 10 times that recently tried, and only once did the Host not get badly shafted. It doesn’t seem to matter who (Host or Guest) initiates the change.

FYI, here's the link to the new discussion thread:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Pricing-ERROR-every-time-that-the-number-of-Guest-s-...

After you have tested it out, please let me know if it's happening to you as well. Thx!

[Susan17]

@Simon209 

This is another Airbnb "glitch" that has been around for years, but never gets fixed. After a similar situation to yours about 3 years ago - ie every single alteration resulting in the guest paying more than they should, and me getting paid less - I told Airbnb that I refuse to do any more alterations through their site, until it was sorted. Never did get fixed. I doubt it ever will. 

[Simon209]

@Susan17 : Wow!  Thanks for sharing that info.  I'm shocked that they would let this type of fundamental "glitch" drag on for years.  Hopefully they will manage to address the issue soon.

For anyone still interest in the subject, here's the link to the new discussion thread:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Pricing-ERROR-every-time-that-the-number-of-Guest-s-...

[Simon209]

AirBnB formally acknowledged that their platform has serious issues when it comes to pricing. For those affected with a similar issue, consider getting your own explanatory letter from AirBnB so that your Guests don't think that you're gouging them when AirBnB's platform messes up the pricing (system errors 100% of the time in my case).

An exert of the full email:

We understand that every time either you or your guests are increasing the number of guests, the system is refunding the guest instead of charging them the additional fees.

This is an ongoing glitch we are working on at the moment.