Group Payments

[Kelly149]

So, I have my second this week reservation "Awaiting Payment". It comes with a helpful note to tell me not to worry bc 97% of split payments are completed on time.

Well, reservation number 1 was already cancelled for non payment and reservation number 2 is one hour away from the deadline.

The official help article says "Since group payment reservations aren’t confirmed until everyone has paid, your cancellation policy won’t apply if we cancel the pending reservation."

Well, if it isn't confirmed then why is it blocking my calendar?? The short answer is that the guest is out nothing but the host is required to be fully committed. I do not mind guests being able to split the payment, in fact I really like that if they are all listed on the reservation then they all get the review posted on their account. However, if payment is not complete then we don't really have a reservation. We just have an idea for a reservation. The calendar should not be held hostage to this idea.

ABB, this is a good idea poorly executed. Go ahead and help guests split their payments, just don't put all the risk on the host.

Hosts, the reason why 97% of payments are completed is that the policy is actually that the guest can have 5 full days to make payment. They get the first 72 hours for the group, and then an additional 24 hr grace period for the group and then a final 24 hours for the booker to override the group pay and pay themselves. (not that you'll find this written anywhere, this is just what I was told by the CS I spoke with after group 1 didn't complete payment). How about this: the original booker enters a complete payment and then sends the reservation off to their friends and ABB gives those folks 5 days to pay back their friend?!?

[Letti0]

@Kelly149  You need to add 24-48 hours to your time table 😉 It's 72 hours to pay, 24 hours for warning to pay, 24 hours for booker to pay infull (not always an option given I was told) and then 48 hour grace period after booking is finally final. 144-168 hours/6-7 full days.

[Lizzie]

Thanks @Kelly149 for sharing your experience with Group Payments. It's great to see you like the idea of this, but think it could be improved. 

In terms of timings to confirm the booking, would you have it work similar to the way a pre-approval booking window works?

[Kelly149]

yes, @Lizzie, exactly like pre-approval a host should get to decide if their calendar is blocked or not. These groups dragging their feet on completing payment would not bug me at all IF my calendar was still open for viewing and booking by others.

In real estate there is a setting for Pending, Taking Backups. This would work perfectly in this situation. It could still show in my calendar to all other lookers with a note that says "this is pending group payment" then they could decide if they wanted to be the backup offer. Once a second party enters a second booking request then the first group would get a notice that they had 12 hours to complete their payment. If the calender isn't blocked and a second offer doesn't come in then there aren't any hard feelings about the group pay (whether it completes or not).

[Laura2013]

Hey both I totally agree! I’ve got a awaiting group payment over a bank holiday in the UK which has blocked out the dates and could potentially be a cancellation. It’s really poor on air bnb’s part. It’s the first time I’ve come across a bad policy of theirs! 

[John764]

One of two things need to change with Group Payments:

1/ The host is made aware in advance that a group payment applies and not all parties have paid PRIOR to accepting the reservation

2/ Parties to the group payment need to have paid prior to the reservation being put through.

Anything less is really a breach of good faith.