Renter say that there is some kind of "card issue" with two weeks to go before occupancy

[Andre375]

My renter tells me that there is some kind of "card issue" so that she is now going to try to solve the problem.  As yet, airbnb has told me nothig about any problem.

Background:  Months ago, airbnb confirmed a renter.  I thought that meant that they had collected all funds...and that I would be transfered those funds after the renter took occupancy.  Now there's almost exactly two weeks to go before occupancy begins, and the prospective renter tells me that there is some kind of card issue.

So...it seems that airbnb may NOT collect all funds at the time of confirmation.  Maybe, and this is just speculation on my part, airbnb only collects a deposit.  And maybe my prospective renter failed to pay the balance.

What does this mean?  Must they pay the balance within some amount of time? If they fail to pay the balance, do I lose everything, including a likely rental as there is such a short amount of time to go?

What is happening here so I better understand the issue?

[Ben551]

Hi @Andre375 - in certain circumstances, Airbnb will offer a “Pay Less Up Front” option to guests when they book. You can read mor about it here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2143/can-i-split-the-cost-of-my-reservation-across-multiple-paym...

I have had this kind of message from 2 guests in the past. The correspondence is between the guest and Airbnb to start with, however if there is a persistent issue Airbnb will contact you. Worst case scenario is you get a cancellation forced by Airbnb.

The issue is, whilst the matter remains between Airbnb and the guest, you won’t know what is truly going on. Both times this happened to me I got in touch with Airbnb directly to get some reassurance. I didn’t just want to take it from the guest relaying things third hand. Airbnb explained how many more payment attempts they would make, whether they had been given a new card... my conversation with Airbnb gave me a sense of whether the guest was actively working on the issue.

At the same time as talking to Airbnb I had the guest talking to me asking for reassurance.  In my communication with the guest I emphasised that it wasn’t me they needed to reason with or explain to. I made sure they knew that I had received no money yet and that their issue was with Airbnb to resolve. I also encouraged the guest to resolve it promptly, loosely mentioning that Airbnb are rather trigger happy with cancellations if they aren’t 100% confident about getting paid. That usually gets the guest moving and working on the issue 🙂

Both times this happened to me, it all got resolved and went through fine.