"impossible to validate the transaction"

[Pam117]

I have a guest and his family that came and stayed with me last year.  They are from France and I live in the States. There was not a problem with him booking the trip at all.  They have asked to return this December as well and now they are having trouble booking the dates.  They also own an airbnb in France so I know they are familiar with the process.  They have said in 2 conversations that they have tried 7 times with different cc's and the message they receive is "impossible to validate the transaction" their cc is France and US based. "impossible to obtain the authorization, contact your bank" was the message the second time they tried.

Any advice or is the Airbnb system down in any way that would prefent this transaction?

[Letti0]

@Pam117  Sometimes there is nothing that is going to work. Have them open a new account in the wife or husbands name and I will bet the booking goes through with no issues. 

[Robin4]

@Pam117

Hi Pam, sometimes this can happen through no fault of either the guest or Airbnb.

Further to  @Letti0's great answer...the best way to get around this is to ask them to open a Paypal account, if they don't already have one and get them to pay through Paypal.....that will always be accepted!

And also you won't be subject to Airbnb's currency conversion fees!

All the best Pam.

Cheers......Rob 

[Letti0]

@Robin4  Not always I had a guest last month even the PayPal was rejected. They set up a new account and payment went through first time out on the same card rejected at first. 

[Robin4]

@Letti0

Odd one, only time I have ever heard that happens is if there are not the required funds in the Paypal account. Paypal is not a good option for close at hand bookings because although the transaction will go through at the time, if there is a glitch of sorts with the holders account that paypal payment approval could be subsequently withdrawn!

Until your post just now I have never heard of a PayPal transaction that was not accepted by Airbnb though!

Thanks for the info though, another one to put in the memory banks!

Cheers.....Rob

[Letti0]

@Robin4  It surprised me too because PayPal always goes through I thought. Nope not this time. Setting up the new account in the wife's name worked like a charm though. There was some technical issues with his account it seems though we never figured out what they were and he had been using it for over 5 years with no issues previously.