Confirmed reservation states not fully paid and unable to request money

[Taylor-Property0]

Hello, 

I received a reservation request from a guest and approved it. When I went to request an additional pet fee, I received an error message stating the reservation was not fully paid. It shows confirmed across the platform. Can anyone advise as to what this may be related to? 

Thanks! 

[Linda108]

@Taylor-Property0  This happened to me as well.  I gather you cannot ask for additional fees until the original booking fee is paid.  I also understand there is a requirement that the final payment for the original booking must occur a couple of weeks before check in .  After that, your request for additional fees will be processed.  I don't love this process at all, but it remains to be seen if this this a problem for the host.  😛

[Taylor-Property0]

Thank you, @Linda108!

[Robin4]

 @Linda  @Taylor-Property0

@Linda108 Airbnb did offer what was called a 'pay less up-front' scheme where the guest pays half the total fee on reservation confirmation and the balance 10 days before the start of the stay.

There were considerable problems with this scheme, the main one being difficulty in accessing the remaining payment and subsequent refund of the original payment if the reservation collapsed. 

Airbnb have now removed from the Terms of Service and all help bulletins any references to the 'Pay Less Up-Front' scheme and although having not heard anything official, they may be in the process of phasing it out!

Cheers......Rob

[Linda108]

@Robin4  Appears to be still active here in the US.  I ran into it with a recent reservation for my listing and also for a booking I made for December.

[Susan17]

@Taylor-Property0 @Linda108 @Robin4

It seems there's a bit of confusion here between the Pay Less Upfront and the Split Payments options. 

Split Payments (or Group Payments) were rolled out globally last November, on the back of Airbnb acquiring social media payments start-up, Tilt, for a reported $12 million. The purpose of Split Payments was (allegedly) to make it easier for large groups to complete payment, without the booking guest having to front the entire payment, although in these days of instant money transfers - PayPal, Venmo etc - it's difficult to fathom why Airbnb felt there would be a need for such a facility. 

Each group was allowed 72 hours to complete payment, plus a further 24 hours grace if needed, so 96 hours in total. It was a disaster from the outset. All persons in the group had to sign up as a member of Airbnb to make their payment, so in my case, for example, Airbnb gained up to 12 new members per booking, as opposed to 1 (a major bonus when every member, host and guest, has a nominal value on their heads that counts towards the company's  $38 billion valuation). 

Predictably, hosts were incensed at having their calendars blocked for up to 4 full days for bookings that very often never materialised, guests hated it too because of the laborious, time-consuming process of everyone in the group having to sign up (and very often getting stuck in the ID verification hamster-wheel), and by June of this year, the Split Payments option was finally shelved. 

Pay Less Upfront is a separate option altogether, and is still very much in use. It was introduced in January, and allows guests to pay 50% at time of booking, and the remaining 50% 14 days before check-in. There is also a 7 day grace period on this, so if the second payment is not made and the whole booking does go belly up, the host can be left with just one week to refill the dates. What happens next - as with all things Airbnb - appears to be at the behest of the CX agent dealing with the case on the day. Officially, the host should receive the initial 50% paid by the guests, but there have also been reports of CX refunding that 50% to the guests, leaving the host empty handed. 

@Linda108 is correct in saying that any requests for additional fees can only be processed after the final payment has been made.  

[Susan17]

As far as I'm aware, there is still nowhere on the site where we can see notifications as to which of our bookings are utilising the Pay Less Upfront facility. 

I did ask, several months ago, for an official response from Airbnb as to why hosts aren't informed/warned that certain reservations aren't actually fully confirmed bookings yet, until the remaining 50% has been paid. I was told that "It's your duty as a responsible host to respect guests' financial privacy" (!!!)

[Robin4]

@Linda108 @Susan17

An apology to make...you are both right, girls.

Last night no matter what key words I used I could not find the help bulletin on 'Pay Less Up Front'...I knew it existed and had refered to it many times in the past but all payment method options lead me back to this bulletin.

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/92/when-am-i-charged-for-a-reservation .......which clearly says the guest is charged the entire amount at the time of booking. I knew all about Payless up front as I have used it on 4 occasions now, the last as recently as August.

This morning I did what I should have done last night! I have over a 400 bulletin helps links, a carry over from my time in support where we needed to access rules and regulations quickly, and this morning I went back and consulted this folder of help links and.....you are right, here it is, and it is still current.

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2143/can-i-split-the-cost-of-my-reservation-across-multiple-payme...

I can't quite understand why it is so hard to find now. There is no reference to Pay Less Up-Front in any other help bulletins

Sorry about that I don't want to mislead people!

Good on you girls, I am glad someone is on the ball.

Cheers.....Rob

[Robin4]

@Susan17

Thanks for your input Susan, I think I have cleared up my position above but, your comments regarding pay less upfront are entirely accurate. There is a (not high, but substantial)  percentage of reservations that are failing through this scheme. Some of these bookings are for 4-5-6 months in advance and a lot of water flows under the bridge between the time the reservation was made and the time the second payment is due. Hosts are being left high and dry with a block of imminent dates that suddenly become available, and regardless of a hosts cancellation policy the guests are being refunded their first payment in many of these instances.

To this point Airbnb have been reliable in trying to access the last 50% payment. A few days before the final payment is due they send the guest an email notification that their account is about to be accessed for the remaining payment and the guest doesn't have to do anything, it just happens.

But it is just a matter of time before guests cotton onto the fact that if they have changed their minds or circumstances, all they need to do is shut off payment and the reservation will collapse and they will get their initial payment back.

This clause will have to be ultimately reworked to take into account this problem of collapsed reservations as far as the host is concerned. And when I could find no evidence of pay less upfront in a help search last night I thought that is what they were in the process of doing.

Thanks Susan,

Cheers......Rob