Technical glitch: paying with a bank account for a monthly stay not working properly

[Michael10257]

Recently retired, I am traveling through Europe, spending at least thirty days in each city.  Nearly two months ago, I encountered a serious problem with the Airbnb platform, but none of the Airbnb Ambassadors or supervisors have solved the problem.  Over the past two months, I have spoken to over a dozen Airbnb Ambassadors, spoken to three supervisors, and opened five cases with Airbnb (because Ambassadors kept closing the cases without resolving the issue).  All regarding the very same problem.  Having exhausted all other options, I hope that someone from Airbnb management will read this post and help fix the issue.

Airbnb has a policy by which a guest may pay with their bank account to obtain a discount.  This also saves Airbnb from paying merchant credit card fees.  This policy is found in Airbnb help article 3409, which is titled “Pay with your bank account to save money on a monthly stay.” The criteria for using a bank account for a discount are very clear:

“Eligibility to pay with a bank account for a monthly stay

You’ll be able to pay with your bank account when:

-- Your country of residence is the United States

-- Your default currency is USD

-- You’re booking a listing with a flexible or moderate cancellation policy or you’ll be staying 28 nights or more

-- For stays of less than 28 nights, the start date of your reservation is at least 9 days away (for flexible cancellation policies) or 13 days away (for moderate cancellation policies)”

For my first Airbnb stay in Europe, I successfully used this process to obtain a discount on a two-month stay.  I always meet all three criteria:  U.S. residency, using USD for payment, and at least a 28-night stay.  Yet, on multiple occasions since then, I cannot pay using my U.S. bank account because the bank account option does not appear in the drop-down menu when I click on the “change payment method” button on the reservation page.  If this problem is not corrected, I will lose hundreds of dollars in discounts.

Through trial and error, I discovered the source of the problem.  Contrary to the express language of this Airbnb policy, the Airbnb platform applies the nine-day restriction to all reservations, not just to reservations of “less than 28 nights.”  If you are a U.S. resident who has a bank account on file with Airbnb, you can verify this problem yourself by trying to use your bank account to pay for a 30-day reservation less than nine days in advance of arrival.  When you go to the “Confirm and Pay” page, you will see that you cannot select your bank account to make payment.

For reasons that are not relevant here, I almost never reserve a stay more than nine days in advance, so I lose this discount even though I am entitled to it.  Thus far, this has happened to me twice and it will continue to happen until this bug is fixed.

Contrary to the plain language of this policy, the last supervisor insisted this was not a technical issue with the Airbnb platform because the nine-day limitation period applies to all reservations, not just to “stays of less than 28 nights.”  In a telephone conversation with him, he could not explain away the very clear language to the contrary.  He simply insisted on his interpretation of the policy, as if the 28-day language did not exist.

In my final conversation with him, he then suddenly claimed that an internal Airbnb policy, which he refused to provide, applied the nine-day restriction to all reservations, including monthly stays.  At this point, I have been told so many conflicting stories by so many Airbnb employees that I have no idea what to believe.

All three supervisors to whom I have spoken have insisted that there is no one beyond the supervisor level that I can contact to resolve this issue.  And they all claimed that the Airbnb engineers insist that a tech issue does not exist.  Because Airbnb does not allow guests to speak directly to its tech engineers, I am stymied there as well.

As I stated earlier, having exhausted all other options over the past two months, I hope that someone from Airbnb management will read this post and either help fix the glitch or provide a definitive explanation.  Or perhaps someone can provide me with contact information for a manager at Airbnb who can help.  Thank you in advance.

[Michael10257]

It has been a week.  No one from Airbnb management reviews these comments?  No official ombudsman?  No one is here to help?

Any suggestions from anyone as to how to reach out to Airbnb management when supervisors fail to fix a well-documented technical issue that conflicts with Airbnb policy?

[Joan2709]

@Michael10257 

Yes...it seems what you are experiencing is not aligned with the what the Help Article is stating. That said, sometimes Airbnb Help Articles are wrong - they should correct the wording:

Paying With Your Bank Account To Save Money on Your Monthy Stay

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3409

Unfortunately, if you are not making resevations going forward more than 9days in advance, then I fear you will not receive the discount going forward when booking a different property. Have you tried that to see if you able to use you bank account when booking 10days in advance?

[Michael10257]

Thank you for your response.  In this case, the help article is not really a help article, but an advertisement.  Airbnb saves money on credit card fees by actively encouraging customers to use their bank account in exchange for a discount.  It promises customers that they will obtain that discount, under certain conditions, if they pay for a monthly reservation using their bank account.

So, this must be a tech issue with the Airbnb platform.  Because the only remaining explanation is false advertising.  That could result in a class action lawsuit potentially costing the company big money.  I doubt that Airbnb is running that legal risk when liability would be so clear, i.e., promising a discount and then not providing it.

Then again, who knows for sure?  Which is why it is extremely strange that no one from Airbnb management seems to monitor these posts to proactively correct such problems.  It just makes no sense.  Either this is a tech issue, an inadvertent false advertising issue, or both.  So, you would think that someone at Airbnb would care – and take action.  At the very least, they should run it by their legal department.

In answer to your question, the language of the policy – which, again, does not apply to stays greater than 28 days – states that “the start date of your reservation is at least 9 days away (for flexible cancellation policies) or 13 days away (for moderate cancellation policies).”  So, the number of days seems to depend on the specific cancellation policy for the Airbnb listing.

I can sometimes select my bank account for the 10th day. But as I stated in my original post, for reasons that are not relevant here, I usually cannot reserve a stay more than nine days in advance.  So, this problem is costing me money on an ongoing basis, which is why I am seeking a solution.  I hope that someone from Airbnb will join the discussion.

[Joan2709]

@Michael10257 

It is an issue for sure. Yours is a unique scenario though, as you have a very short lead time for making reservations and not sure many would be in that same situation. At a minimum, the Help Article should be corrected to align with the actual Airbnb policies.

Perhaps one of the moderators could kindly forward this to the appropriate Team at Airbnb?

@Rebecca @Bhumika 

[Mary7278]

I am currently dealing with the same issue! I'm a long term guest in Los Angeles at the same property since Feb and suddenly I can't use my bank account and I am also a US citizen and live in LA! I had to leave my old apartment and came to this place in the interim. It's crazy how many different agents I've had to deal with and none of them tell me the truth nor do they actually help. I am at a loss with how to get to someone in a higher position who ACTUALLY can be transparent. It's infuriating. 

I asked them to at least credit me the discount I get for using my bank and suddenly they tell me this is a new policy that we can't use our bank account and in the same sentence tells me I can. 

[Mary7278]

My new "agent" just sent me this message:

"I already said that this was an option earlier but with the recent update there are some changes made in the Airbnb app.

accprding to the community forum you meet all the criteria, but still you dont get the option Why?

Because there is no option."

My response:

6:58 PM

No you told me it wasn't and also it's not showing up on my payment option like it has for the past 8 months of me staying here.

What is your name

I'm tired of talking to "agents" without your name, position and providing solid information

So if an infinite amount of your guests are encountering this "glitch" then someone with some actual authority needs to get involved, contact ALL of the guests and then fix it and credit all of us for the bank discount we all are entitled to.