Guest who booked but hasn't paid now our calendar is blocked for those dates

Mitch4
Level 1
North Melbourne, Australia

Guest who booked but hasn't paid now our calendar is blocked for those dates

We had a guest book yesterday for 3 nights. We accepted and are "awaiting payment". Guest had obviously changed their mind but our calendar is now blocked for those 3 nights and we can't change or cancel reservation. Have contacted guest via email (her number is blocked) but have had no response to either email. Any advice?

22 Replies 22
Gerry-And-Rashid0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

You need to read up on bookings and payment. If you have an email saying a booking is confirmed then the guest has paid. You don't get that money until about 24 hours after the guest has checked in. Under no circumstances should you cancel the reservation or you won;t get paid and will be penalised too.

We didn't receive an email saying the booking was confirmed. We simply accepted her request to book. Our status says 'awaiting payment' so I'm assuming payment has not been made as yet.

My understanding is that the AirBnB "system" is set up so that if she doesn't make a payment, then the booking is cancelled. He/she has only so much time to that. That happened to me recently where a guest booked, but didn't make a payment in the required amount of time. I rec'd notice from AirBnB that the booking was cancelled due to lack of payment and my calendar was automatically freed up to accept another Request. You do not receive payment until the guest arrives. 

Mitch4
Level 1
North Melbourne, Australia

Right.

 

That's what I thought would happen but those dates are still blocked and I can't unblock them leaving us potentially missing out on 3 nights of guests.

 

Very frustrating and also cannot access the guest mobile number to call her and ask her to cancel her booking.

Why would you want them to cancel???

 

The reason you can't unblock the dates is because this guest has made a confirmed reservation. Gerry & Rashid and Estelle have both tried to explain why the status shows 'awaiting payment'. As a host, you won't receive payment for any booking until the guest has arrived. That doesn't mean that they haven't paid - they have made their payment to Airbnb and this is then released to you when the date of the reservation arrives (or 24 hours after). I don't see any reason to worry here. Ok, the guest maybe hasn't responded to messages straight away, maybe they don't have notifications set up, maybe the don't have the Airbnb app or perhaps they haven't had the chance to check their emails yet, don't have internet access etc - there could be a number of reasons for that. Be a little patient, and I'm sure they'll get back to you in due course!

Hi Mitch, I had the same thing happen just yesterday, as well as when individuals set up payment so that multiple people are paying portions. They have 24 hours to submit payment or, theoretically, the reservation is released. The guest paid in the allotted time last time, so no problem. I'm in the middle of one right now (they have to submit payment by the end of today) and I'll let you know if I find anything different!

 

As a note, this is a different situation and different question than "when will I receive my payment". We receive payment after the guest checks in, but the guest has to provide AirBnB with payment (or at the very least payment information) at the time of reservation to hold the spot. AirBnB will put a temporary hold on reservations if guests don't immediately provide that. 

 

Best,

Kate

My favorite is when said guest books same day or 1 day out... and then never pays nor stays, and i am left high and dry bc Airbnb has no checks and balances for this situation. Its gone on for years. Another reason i feel Airbnb DGAF about its hosts.

Do not accept reservations closer than certain number of days prior to check in...unless you are in roadside motel business 

P.S. Def not motel LOL

Looks liek you bought entire resort lol

This same thing has happened to me a number of times. They book the last min and do not add payment information. Now the days are blocked off my calendar from other guests. Has anyone found a way to fix this?

Airbnb has recently added a feature that allows guests to book now but pay part of the cost (to Airbnb) nearer the time.  They used to always take the full payment from the guest at the time of booking, and hold it until the day after arrival when they would transfer it to the host.   For advance bookings that could mean them holding onto money for months.   I'm not exactly sure how much nearer the time it is that they take the final payment, but it shouldn't be anything to worry about.  I just had one of these type of bookings today for the first time, and I've been hosting 2 years now.

.

Janice1
Level 6
Tamaterau, New Zealand

@Mitch4

 

I had an experience similar to this.

 

First and formost is the booking showing as confirmed in your dashboard.  If not you will not get paid or be covered by airbnb insurance.

 

As far as I can work out sometimes for a variety of reasons a booking doesn't fully process through the system.  The calander holds the dates but no confirmed booking eg insufficient funds in the guests account. 

 

If this is the case I would be careful.  If the booking hasn't confirmed then they will not have recieved your address and contact. However, I do believe the confusion around this situation has been used to gain admittance to airbnb accommodation without facility to pay the host. 

 

If its still unconfirmed you could attempt to get airbnb to remove it from your calander.  

 

Regards

 

Janice

isnt also 24h for the guest to pay?

Jim67
Level 1
Houston, TX

Mine is a bit different. I accepted the reservation, but he says he hasn't provided a payment method to AirBnB.  He won't reply as to if he still wants the dates (a WEEK) and that is now blocked on my calendar.  How do I know if he's actually PAID?