Reservation not paid, almost 7 months later

[Katie23]

We hosted a short 2 day stay starting 01/26 (for those of you following along, that's just under 7 months from the time of this posting). In June, we did a regular checkup on our books and noticed we never got paid for that reservation. We contacted Airbnb support and was told vaguely that they would "resolve the issue". A week later, we had heard nothing from Airbnb and still hand't ben paid. So, we contacted them again. This time, a new support rep indicated that the guest never "fully paid" the Airbnb reservation. Again, they said they would look into it.

This support cycle repeated every few weeks for about 9 weeks. During that time I find out that...

1. The guest paid for "most" of the reservation, but not all of it (somehow, Airbnb only collected about 75% of the reservation cost from the guest)
2. Airbnb has a policy of not disbursing payments to hosts until the guests have fully paid.

So, Airbnb has a pretty one-sided deal going on here. Airbnb handles guest payment collection and host payment disbursement. That's part of their responsibilities and part of the services included for the host/guest commissions. However, if Airbnb has a problem when collecting guest payment (again, part of their responsibility), then the host - not Airbnb - is the one who doesn't get paid.

As it stands, I can call Airbnb support all I want and it won't matter. They will tell me that the only thing they can do is escalate it to their collections team. Then, they will say they've sent an email to the team and marked it as "urgent". Then... nothing.

Has anyone else dealt with this? We've already accepted that we're not getting paid for this reservation. We just find the situation so sleazy and frustrating.

[Amanda808]

Yes many times. I now have James j dealing with this. Hopefully he can get this sorted . 

[Lynda120]

I had a guest that checked in on December 20th of 2019 with her boyfriend. Her reservation was originally for two nights, The reservation was for two people. I am very transparent when it comes to my policies and one of them is if there are any guests beyond the number listed on your itinerary the reservation will be canceled. They violated the the rules and tried to sneak three additional people at 2 am. I contacted the guest shortly after and told her she needed to checkout at 12 pm and that I wold not extending another night.

Airbnb has not paid me for the night the guest stayed. I have contacted them repeatedly and have demanded my money but I keep hearing the same story that apparently they are telling everyone else! There exact words "I understand the frustration in regard with the resolution for this payout. However, it will our specialized team that will be handling this concern. We don't have any visibility as well on the status of the payout. I can't provide any specific time frame, but they will keep you posted as soon as possible. I did put all necessary notes on your account as well this is handled urgently by our team since I did re-escalate this concern to them. This is not the answer you were looking for but I can only provide information as much. We are hoping for your understanding for this one" sound familiar?! 

Airbnb gives you a crap story about transparency which is bull! I asked them if the guest had not paid for the reservation and they claimed they did. Airbnb is saying some story about a glitch which I am not buying.

I see there is a trend here and truly hope they pay me my money! 

[Robin4]

@Lynda120 

Lynda I am sorry this has happened to you, but gosh, we see this time and time again every day. 

You learn after a while that Airbnb might protect you, they might not...... and it's the 'might nots' that are becoming much more prevalent than they were a year ago!

I hate to have to say this to you Lynda but, don't count on Airbnb for anything, and remember you are running a business and the golden rule in business is....50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!

Conflict leads to disappointment if you are an Airbnb host, and your issue is, you kicked them out! From that point on, you were always behind the 8 ball. Airbnb just want you to go away now!

Had you tried to work out some amicable solution with the guest......even if it was minimal, not what you would ideally want....you would have been much better off. 

Too often today we are seeing hosts shoot themselves in the foot because they have their principals and stand by them. The problem is they expect Airbnb to also stand by those same principals, and I am afraid that is where the rude shock comes in.....they don't!

The only principal that Airbnb stand behind is the pursuance of that next service fee.

Remember that for next time and think about that business truism.....50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!

Cheers......Rob

[Lynda120]

Rob, thank you for the response. Yes, I let them finish the full day and asked that they leave at check-out. I was terrified, it was 2 am on new years eve when the extra people walked in. It was evident that they would be staying for the remainder of the reservation. They were there to party and could not risk the chance of my home being damaged. 

I’ve read other threads that when this situation occurs it is because the guest did not pay for their reservation. It is also my believe that Airbnb is doing this to teach me a lesson and if that is the case I prefer not to continue to host in their platform. 

Thank you for responding.