New group payment booking option - Fair to hosts?

Clay0
Level 10
Denver, CO

New group payment booking option - Fair to hosts?

Thursday evening 10/19/17 I received a booking request for a three night stay November 3-6. I quickly accepted the reservation and replied with my default new booking message assuming all was normal. A few hours later I got home and opened up airbnb on web browser and noticed the reservation said "Awaiting group payment". It took me a minute to research when I found the new option that guests have to split payments amongst a group, which is a cool feature.

 

Here's the problem. The guests have 72 hours from booking time to complete the group payment, if not 100% paid after 72 hours the booking will be canceled. There is no fee to the guest for holding my calendar hostage for 72 hours. 

 

For my example, the payment is split among 8 people and currently as i type 24 hours remaining to complete payment. This means that the entire weekend (Saturday and Sunday 10/21 and 10/22) my calendar will show those dates as booked. I would estimate 95% of my bookings are made on either a Saturday or a Sunday. So come Sunday evening if the guest hasnt paid, that reservation cancels and I've missed the opportunity to have those nights booked this weekend. Then I will have to lower the rate as the date gets closer.

 

I think the group booking option is nice, however, AIRBNB needs to lessen the amount of time that my calendar is blocked off for a non-confirmed reservation. If a guest can't get their group to all pay within 24 hours then they probably won't make it in 72 hours either.

 

My vote is to lessen the time to 24 hours to complete a group payment to lower the risk of unbooked nights for hosts.

 

I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts.

 

Thanks,

 

Clay

 

 

168 Replies 168
Max-and-Dino0
Level 2
Poughkeepsie, NY

24 hours should be best, or make their reservation same as preapproval without blocking the dates until payment is completed...

Shane-and-Rebecca0
Level 2
Black Mountain, NC

I just had this happen to me and it's very frustrating!  I'm waiting for the "Group Payment" to firm up and meanwhile I just received an instant booking from another channel.  During this 72 hours your calendar is booked as if the reservation is firm.  This is a group of adult friends coordinating a trip together, why should the property owners have to worry about the group splitting the payment?  Can this not be taken care of amoungst friends!? Can you opt out of this group payment option?

I agree with you. It is very frustrating. I have been through this situation for 4 times! I am so mad. I am considering to get out of Airbnb community. I lost to much money because of this.

@Clay0

I have a single occupancy guest room in my home so while I won't be needing the group payment option, I totally agree that blocking a place for 72hrs is not acceptable!!! IMO, max. 24hrs seems to be more than enough time. Why should hosts shoulder the financial burden for a group of guests who are not organized enough to complete payment within 24hrs????? People who are this disorganized....... giving them more time will not help at all!!!

People are waiting until last minute and missing the right time. Or maybe they are just looking for a better place for then. I can't believe that Airbnb did it to me. It is very frustrating. I have been through this situation for 4 times! I am so mad. I am considering to get out of Airbnb community and go for Booking.com. I lost to much money because of this (and Airbnb made a lot).

Todd-And-Tatyana0
Level 3
San Francisco, CA

Guys, again, here this Airbnb product feedback link:  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1640/how-can-i-give-feedback-about-airbnb

Thanks for the link. I made my thoughts known.    : )

Willow3
Level 10
Coupeville, WA

This doesn’t affect me personally - but I think it’s BS, and have left feedback to that effect. Politely, of course. 

the 72 hours would be fine for dates that are 30+ days out but for anything less than that then, yes, blocking the calendar for 3 days is too long.  This should be like the other feature where the host has the deciding vote on whether the dates are blocked or available for other guests.

 

I LOVE the idea of having ID on all guests (we take up to 8 unrelated adults at our property & I tell them that I will discount their rate if all guests have a verified profile on the reservation), but the calendar should not be commited unless the host agrees and/or the reservation is paid.

 

We should all likely keep in mind though that even paid reservations can be cancelled with no payout to host all entirely at ABB's discretion so this may be no more uncomfortable than that.

Allison116
Level 10
Walnut Creek, CA

I don’t think that should be allowed at all. Not even 24 hours.  if offered, hosts should be able to opt out of allowing it. Whomever makes the reservation should pay in full and if they want to receive pay back from the other guests, there are a lot of other applications that they could use to do that themselves. PayPal, venmo, Just to name a few.

Dennis126
Level 2
Surrey, Canada

I agree with other hosts that group bookings should be only given the same 24 hours  to complete the transaction. I do not wish to wait 3 or 4 days to find out we have missed another booking. This change is not a good idea. 

Peg7
Level 1
Hilton Head Island, SC

Sounds reasonable, especially if you live off this rental income....airbnb needs to realize that aspect.

 

Gerry-And-Rashid0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

It's bit of a weird one. If a group of friends cant club together and one of them make the payment then what sort of group is it. Personally I would be wary of large groups doing this - it implies they don't trust one another to pay up. How will they treat your property I wonder.

Yet another "feature" designed to solve some problem for a small subset of the user population without thinking through how this will impact the larger group.  Airbnb is rushing into all sorts of "add-ons" without really considering if they are reasonable or appropriate. I'm becoming more and more disallusioned with this company all the time.  

 

Hopefully someone has put up a suggestion in Host so we can all vote for a change.  Voice https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/idb-p/host-voice

 

If you haven't been there in a while, there are some really great suggestions to upvote.  

Brent46
Level 2
Conroe, TX

I'm brand new to Airbnb and have only use VRBO/HomeAway with plenty of success.  On VRBO my guest must pay in full at time of booking to lock in dates.  My property is commonly booked by multiple adults so I am not a fan of this new feature at all.  What happens when Airbnb ties me up for 72 hours and at the same time I get a fully paid booking with VRBO for same dates?