Missing Payouts, Has this happened to anybody else?

[Susan723]

Any other hosts experiencing missing payments from Airbnb? It first happened to me earlier this year. It was just one payment that time and only a few hundred dollars. After 3 days and receiving no notice of payout I called and spent hours on the email and phone with airbnb. They finally acknowledged their error and issued the payment. For my hours of trouble they sent me a coffee mug. This time the missing payouts total nearly $2k. I have already spent much time trying to get it corrected. So far I am just getting the "we are checking into it" email message. The original rep I spoke with acknowledged to me that there was a mistake made. So now I just get to sit and wait for them to hopefully correct their error again. I wonder if I will get another coffee mug. Frankly I would rather just timely get my payouts and without having to waste hours of my time to get them. Anyway just wondering if this is happening to other hosts and also a heads up to other hosts to be sure to keep track of your payouts.

[Huma0]

@John1574sounds like your system works well. Certainly it makes sense if using a separate Paypal account. It's just a shame you can't set it up to automatically then transfer to your bank account so you then only have to do the final check.

Generally speaking, I've not had issues with payouts from Airbnb. It's just these two payments which are both small. They are for extra funds requested from guests that the guests have agreed to (no disputes involved) so I don't know why they occasionally then get held up. I've not had a problem with payouts for bookings.

[Huma0]

Also @John1574  you are much more organised about this stuff than me and good for you. I really hate checking my bank account (for the reasons you mentioned above - it takes far too long) so normally only do it when I have transactions or something urgent to check. Otherwise, I still get a monthly statement and go through it then.

That does occasionally mean I miss something, like when my insurance company charged me twice in the same month, but luckily it's usually something small and I will eventually get round to dealing with it.

I would love to be more on top of these things, but really, I just hate it! I hated maths at school and I hate, hate, hate doing my tax return. Unfortunately my brain is wired to go into a trance whenever numbers are involved!

Oh, and don't mention spreadsheets. I hate those the most 😞

[John1574]

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@Huma0 

Ah ha, you're just like me.  I recognize myself in the self you describe: hate math, except we both love counting money, right. Lol

I was lucky to find a good wife, because I've got a mind like a sieve, and she has a mind like a Memory Palace. We have complementary skills and that's just kismet: I tell people, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. lol

But if you dedicate a PayPal account to just receiving funds from Airbnb, at least then you will get a notification each time you get paid. And an electronic transfer from PayPal to the bank takes mere seconds. You might consider it as a workaround.

You'll find a workaround for your mental block: that's what I call mine, a mental block, I have a lot of them and I'm always trying to hack them or find a work around for them someway -- it's a constant battle. So, know you are not alone in battling these minor demons.

Let us know when they pay you and why they held it up.

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[Huma0]

@John1574  I don't want to seem sexist, but I was watching 'Escape to the Chateau DIY'. One young couple was preparing for their first paying guests and had misplaced a box of lightbulbs needed quite urgently. The wife asked the husband (who it turns out had put them 'somewhere' to find them but he couldn't.

She asked him, "Did you do a boy look or a girl look?" 

She went off to have a go and found them in a random box with screwdrivers or something and explained, "This is how you do a girl look."

He didn't protest. You could see this was the dynamic of the couple and they were just used to it.

Getting back to the point, Airbnb sends you email notifications when you have been paid. That should be enough, i.e. if they say they have paid you, you should be able to trust that message. It's a shame if that is not the case and one has to double check each time.

[John1574]

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@Huma0 

That is funny. And it is a shame that hosts have to deal with this missing payment problem. Running a business is tough enough.

Did Airbnb notify you of those payments in May and August but they never really showed up in your account? That would be really weird and troubling.

In our house, I'm the finder, she's the looker: because I do more than cast my eyes around a room and say, I don't see it: I actually move things around,  pick things up, look on top of, underneath  things and in the odd places. Maybe searching is a skill like math, some people have it, some people don't, maybe not related to gender, but brain type. I pride myself so much on my skill at finding things, that I get very frustrated and obsessed when I fail to find the object of my affection's. lol Then I give up and it turns up anyway in the oddest of places when I wasn't even looking.

Good luck on getting your payments. I hope they find them.

Keep us informed.

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[Sathis7]

It is extremely disheartening to receive flimsy excuse from the Airbnb, when ever I remind them to settle my pay out (USD 1833.30). Please find below a response I sent to them today, for the other hosts, who are facing the same problem, to know what is going on. "Dear April, Thank you for providing me the SAME answer I received from Airbnb on 21 January 2020. Airbnb has received Euro 995 from the credit card of our guest, who occupied my bungalow and another Euro 995 is due from him. As of 21 January 2020, Airbnb has failed to take the balance Euro 995 from his card due to a 'technical glitch' and Airbnb sent a message to our guest stating that its an issue in the system and Airbnb is fixing it. He confirmed to me today, that Airbnb has still NOT recovered the Euro 995 from his account. What I require is my pay out. Fixing the technical glitch is your problem and NOT my responsibility. Don't you feel bad to keep on repeating the same excuse, which is internal by nature, for not settling my pay out since December 2019? Please settle my pay out without giving the same excuse all the time. Thank you. Kind regards Sathis Abeyasuriya"  Airbnb has been taking about a technical glitch since 30 December 2019 and they are still doing the same without resolving it. This is a classic example to show how Airbnb is taking care of the hosts.   

[Laura2592]

Still missing mine- been a month now. URGH. Calling AGAIN. So tired. We are taking our cottage off of Airbnb at the end of 2020. I am exploring other listing sites. This is just too much to chase down.

[Cynthia714]

Airbnb always have TECHNICAL GLITCH reason for entire year. ALL YEAR LONG. Every host get a chance to experience them.

I wonder why they don't fix their technical glitch, it's such a shame for a big established company like airbnb. i think holding our money make so much fortune for them. Why airbnb why? 

[Sathis7]

If we are unimportant to Airbnb, we are left with no other option as you say. I am struggling to get my pay out since last week of December 2019. Airbnb is still repeating the same excuse, as to why the pay out is delayed.

[John1574]

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@Sathis7 @Susan723 @Huma0 @Cynthia714 @Laura2592 

I don't think it really does any good to adopt a victim mentality in these situations.

We are partners with Airbnb and when your partner is not carrying their weight you have to call him or her out.

You have to be willing to walk away from the partnership.  

The hosts who did you get their payments remitted to them took an aggressive approach. 

There's an old expression, don't get angry, get even.

I would advocate that anyone who is missing a payment, and it is Airbnb's fault and not their own, and that it is unequivocally airbnb who is to blame for the missing payments, then tell Airbnb that they will refuse any additional future, reservations, and they will be notifying all current reservations they will be canceling them until they get paid by Airbnb.

It's an aggressive approach, yes, but why continue with Airbnb if you're not making money? They will continue to jerk you around until you take a stand.

I suspect, at the risk of being accused of victim blaming, that many of these instances of Airbnb missing payouts is partially the fault of the hosts.

In the cases where it is solely the fault of Airbnb then there's no future in continuing with them if they don't immediately correct their mistake.

I believe Airbnb is being hacked all the time, that they have serious security breaches, and that is partially the reason for some of these missing payouts. And some missing payments are due to host ineptitude and Airbnb ineptitude combined.

But I believe many missing payouts are the result of Airbnb being hacked and that they are slow to correct the hack amid fears of the publicizing of the security breachs in light of their pending IPO.

Just a wild guess.

I recommend being aggressive with airbnb, blocking your calendar, refusing any future bookings and threatening to cancel all upcoming bookings until you are paid.

What's your alternative: being jerked around by customer service?

This thread is 15, 16, 17 pages long: it's time we got to a resolution of how to handle the missing payouts.

I think a template has been established: if you read the thread you will arrive at the same template that successful people have used to resolve their problem with the missing payments.

portraying yourself as a victim and Airbnb as a perpetrator, will not get you anywhere.

This is a business. And this is business as usual. Conflict is a natural part of business. Problem-solving is an essential skill in business.

Take it to Airbnb, aggressively, and if you don't succeed in getting your payment, get out of the business.

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[Sathis7]

Thank you sharing some very valuable thoughts. You have looked at the issue from all possible angles. Much appreciated.  

[Jerry46]

I have a current 3 month reservation that I haven’t received a penny for. I keep calling in and they say their “technical team” is working on it. What can I do? It’s been months and I can’t seem to get any help with the payout. Airbnb support has already confirmed that the money was paid to them, but for some reason no one has the authority to release the payment. It amounts  to a total of around 4.3k

[John1574]

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@Jerry46

I am no expert. But I have been following this thread since it's inception. If you read the thread for the beginning through the 17 pages you will see a template has been established for how to handle this.

Here is my advice to you:

1. Make sure that there is no error on your end or on your guest's end.

2. Be sure that the problem is solely caused by Airbnb's ineptitude or "technical issues".

3. if you determine that the problem is caused by Airbnb then try doing the following:

A. Call customer service, tell them you will be blocking your calendar to prevent any upcoming reservations until you have been paid.

Do the same thing by crafting a coherent written message conveyed to them via Twitter and Facebook.

B. Tell them that you will not be accepting any new reservations until you have been paid.

C. Tell them that they have 48 hours to pay you for this reservation or you will implement these changes to your account.

Tell them that in the meantime you will be moving your business to other short term rental platforms. 

Tell them If they don't pay you within 48 hours, you will be asking the party that's there for the three month rental to leave since Airbnb has not upheld their Legal agreement with you, they have not honored  the partnership, and they have broken their contract with you. They have not paid you for this rental.

If that doesn't work, cancel your contract with Airbnb for there's no future in you working with them any longer. Do not beg or plead with customer service. It is common knowledge that their customer service reps are very different from one to another: keep calling back until you get a sympathetic rep. If you are getting nowhere with a rep, end the call and try another rep.

Try it, and good luck.

PS. Many hosts to not accept reservations for more than 29 or 30 days. There are many good reasons to do this most of them having to do with "tenants rights": you should research this and implement the necessary changes.

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[Debby69]

I have a missing payout for 2 reservations on third week of December 2019 . As of writing time, I have not received  my payout yet. I wish I could contact of what they called " Payment Department" to get direct answer.  It is so frustrating and disappointing.

[John1574]

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@Debby69 

You should research the best ways to contact customer service using the help pages and this forum using the search feature.  There are 17 pages of information on this thread: have you read them all?

I've read that Facebook is one of the most effective means of contacting them, secondly Twitter, and I have always used the phone, and I've had no problem contacting them. If you're not happy with the behavior of the first customer service rep end the call, and call back for a different rep.

Be sure the payment withholding is due to Airbnb and not something caused by you or your guest or in your banking service or your guest's banking service.

In withholding payment from you they broke in their contract with you: you should block all future activity from happening until they pay you.

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