Firstly, the payment protocol Airbnb uses is totally automated!
There is not a support person sitting in front of a terminal saying, 'will we release this payout..... or not'!
The system does not randomly single out some hosts for payout and not others! If you don't get paid there is a reason!
Hosts will automatically receive an email from Airbnb 24-30 hours after the guest checks in informing them that a payout for a particular reservation has been released to their payout method.
At that point the hosts transaction history will show the payout as a Completed payout and the relevant transaction will show as 'processing'.
If the payout at that point is still showing as an upcoming payout, the host will not receive that release notification email and (if during normal working hours) it means the system has not been satisfied with a payment for that reservation code.
It is wise to follow your transaction history closely for your upcoming reservations. If a guest has booked for a future reservation and payment was not successful at the time of booking, the confirmation code will show in the transaction history, under 'Upcoming payouts' and will show the legend 'Payment Pending'. If the payment has not been made after 48 hours of booking, the transaction will delete itself from the transaction history and it will become an unsuccessful reservation!
This is why it is important to keep checking on the status of reservation payments. If there is 'back and forth' communication between CX and the guest regarding payment, the host will not automatically be notified of this because CX may grant a payment extension and the only way to track the status is....the Transaction history!
Now some really strange things do happen along the way! For some incredibly obscure reason, no Airbnb payout transfers take place over a weekend! As a host, you will receive an email on a Saturday informing you that a payout had been released for a specific reservation, but, it will still show as an upcoming payout in your transaction history until the following Monday where it will then shift to a completed payout! The electronic world, where Airbnb payouts are concerned, comes to a standstill on weekends.
I will leave others to form a judgement on that!
So to possibly save yourself a lot of financial pain try to use the following steps.
1/......When a reservation is confirmed, check the status of the reservation payment.....is it showing up in your transaction history as an upcoming payout? If not, it could have been allocated to another confirmation code....one that is not necessarily yours! Or your payout method could have been compromised and your payouts are being re-directed to another account
2/.....As soon as email confirmation has been received that a payout has been released to you, check on its status.....Is it showing as a completed payout or still as an upcoming payout?
3/.....Never accept a guest into your property while payment is showing as pending or the confirmation code has disappeared from your transaction history. This means that Airbnb have not been able to access the guests payment and you will be stiffed for payout if the guest turns up!
Apart from a one month period in 2018 where no Australian hosts got paid, I have never had to chase a payout, they have all arrived exactly when they were supposed to. I have on a couple of occasions had to query the status of a payout with CX , but they have all been reliable in the end.....and it is because I keep on top of my transaction history that I have been able to make that happen!
Cheers........Rob
