I made a reservation with a host

[Carl11923]

Can someone explain why this happens on airbnb?

I recently made a reservation and was sent a message from airbnb telling me i had 24 hours to pay for the reservation. When i went to pay, my reserved dates had already gone and this was within the 24 hour time frame given by airbnb. 

The host blames airbnbs system and airbnb blamed the host. The sad thing is that my booking was for 6 weeks and the booking the host accepted was only for 5 days. I really don't understand how a system can allow this to happen. I have contact airbnb support and after several communications, they sent me a message asking if they could call me to help with the situation and as of yet, i have still not received any call from airbnb support.

[Emiel1]

@Carl11923 

What i do not understand:

You made a booking for six weeks, how can host accept it for 5 nights ?

Useally when you make a booking and it is confirmed, then there is indeed 24 hours time frame to finish payment .

The dates are reserved on the calender and the host need to wait for the payment (there is nothing else the host can do, besides sending messages to the guest).

So i am curious how Airbnb can blame the host for the issue.

[Helen3]

Sorry you are having issues. I wonder if what you did is make an inquiry rather than a booking ? 

you say the host accepted a booking for five nights . But also say when you went to book the reserve dates had gone .

which was it @Carl11923 ? 

And what support are you looking for from Airbnb? 

I haven't seen a facility on Airbnb that guests have 24 hours to pay . Normally payment is taken on booking. 

[Emiel1]

@Helen3 

"I haven't seen a facility on Airbnb that guests have 24 hours to pay . Normally payment is taken on booking"

Some payment methods can not generate payment instantly (like a creditcard)

For example:

In The Netherlands  a common payment method used is "Ideal". After booking a guest receive a link from Airbnb and then have to use this link to make the payment (which is actually a direct bank transfer) within 24 hours. If no payment made the booking expires after 24 hours and dates are available again for new booking.

[Helen3]

Ah thanks we don't have that in the UK @Emiel1