SCAMMERS love this - AirBnB payment platform verifies the FIRST payment only

SCAMMERS love this - AirBnB payment platform verifies the FIRST payment only

Here's how the scam works: intending guest books with a debit card with only enough funds to pay for the initial booking. Booking is confirmed and guest(s) arrive. Shortly, prior to check out - scamming guest sends an alteration to extend the booking X nights. Host accepts BUT the registered payment method fails as there are no funds on the registered payment method (here the debit card you can buy and load at any store). Air BnB does NOT get paid. Then the hosts does not get paid and the scheduled failed payment amount goes to pending payments in the host's account. AirBnB conceded to us orally and in writing they were contacting the "guest" first to secure their payment PRIOR to paying us- the host. This is a failure in the payments algorithm at AirBnB. In our case, the new guest was in town as a defendant in a criminal proceeding. we documented this to AirBnB Trust and Safety and had no reply. Caveat Emptor 

31 Replies 31

@Anonymous Thank you! 

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Andrew, I keep having a guy book my Airbnb and not staying. He doesn’t req his money back but he is not staying at property. He seems to have no real alias and I’ve noticed other strange things he’s said and lies he’s told, any idea what he may be up to? 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

Well, if hosts start telling guests who may be trying to pull this scam (as well as those who aren't) that you don't do extensions through Airbnb, but privately, and they'll have to pay for extra days in cash, the scammers will then leave, and the good guests will pay you and stay. If a guest has been obviously great, it's not likely that they'll then start to cause trouble just because Airbnb is no longer involved. Although of course that's not guaranteed.

Charles224
Level 10
Clare, Australia

@Sahlee-and-Fred0 many thanks for alerting us all to this potential scam.

I have just adjusted my maximum stay back to  30Days.

Good idea @Sarah977  and good advice @Anonymous. 

@Debra48 , your amazing place makes more in a night than I do in a month! No wonder you discuss these things with an  attorney!

@Sahlee-and-Fred0 

 

I (used to) host a lot of long-term stays because the majority of my guests were exchange students. Whenever there was a request to adjust check/checkout dates, if the difference was less than 1 week then we'd just ask to keep the original booking as-is, giving the reason that Airbnb system is glitchy and booking changes where weekly or monthly discounts have been applied have often led to exorbitant increase of fees or the discounts being applied incorrectly. We would do the math, agree on an amount either for additional payment or refund, summarize the terms we agree to on the airbnb messenger for evidence purposes. Then at the appropriate time (either at check in or check out), we'd send the request for additional payment or send a refund.  

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

 

I've also had this problem in the past when making alternations to long-term reservations. I didn't even realise it was happening because the amounts were quite small, e.g. a guest extending for a day.

 

Then I had a guest book for a six month stay. She wanted to check in two days earlier than originally planned, so I altered the dates. Airbnb charged her nearly £1,500 for those extra two nights (for a room that was £38 a night)!! Of course, she was freaking out. Turns out the long-term discount for the entire six months had somehow disappeared and who knows what extra fees were added on top.

 

Since becoming aware of this 'glitch' in the system, I usually call CS when altering a long-term reservation to make sure the guest is charged the correct amount. You can of course try to adjust the amount from the alteration page, but you have no control over the fees and inevitably, some extra money seems to 'disappear' into Airbnb's coffers. It's not ideal...

@Huma0  It seems that everything breaks when extending dates. It's happened to me before that, when traveling with an Airbnb-issued travel coupon (for an Airbnb event no less), I had to add two nights to the stay and found it impossible to do so without wiping out the travel credit. In the end, the only option was to make the arrangement with the host offsite. Minutes later, I was at an presentation with Brian announcing all these new features (none of which is still active) and thinking, "man, why not get the basic ones working correctly first?"

@Huma0 

Yup..... early on I had several guests contact me asking why the total suddenly increased by a couple hundred $$$ when they were simply trying to change the check in/out day by a day or two..... so after a while I made a point of mentioning this glitch to any long-term exchange student guest so they'd contact me directly instead of wasting time. 

 

 

@Anonymous @Jessica-and-Henry0 

 

I think that Airbnb might have finally fixed this glitch (in terms of long-term stays, not sure about travel credit). The last two or three times I have extended a long-term stay, the prices came up correct with the discount applied. Today I sent a request to a guest to extend from one month to two and everything from my end looked spot on. I have asked her to have a look at the fees from her end this evening before accepting to make sure it's correct.

 

 

Sarah3595
Level 3
Bideford, United Kingdom

Thank you for sharing this information. 

S McGeough
Denise80
Level 9
Hamilton, New Zealand

@Sahlee-and-Fred0  What if we ask the guest to make a new booking for the extra nights?

@Denise80  That's always an option, and probably the better one - I'd recommend that you ask them to send an Inquiry via "Contact Host" so that you can respond with a Special Offer waiving the Cleaning Fee.

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

To add onto what @Anonymous has said, the host should point out to the guest that due to the set booking buffer (1, 2, or 3 days between reservations), they may not be able to inquire about the dates immediately after the end of the current reservation, and specify that the special offer amount will include the price for the entire period of the extension.

Yadira22
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Would it not be an easy fix if Airbnb allows for the host to approve the reservation date changes but this is not confirmed to guests until payment is collected. So, it’s on a 24 hour standby only and defaulted to original dates as such when no payment is received- similar to how it works when originally placing a reservation...