gift card issues

[Chris17646]

I received an Airbnb gift card from my kids for Christmas.  When I went to scratch off the gray area by the PIN, the whole gray area came off in one piece like a sticker and tore away the paper area where the PIN was.  Now I cannot read the entire PIN.  After talking to someone with Airbnb, they sent me an e-mail address to send my request to.  When I did, they sent me a response that they don't deal with gift cards bought at a retail establishment. They said I need to go back to the placed where it was purchased from.  Today I went to Rite Aid where it was purchased from. Rite Aid told me that Airbnb needs to help me that it is their gift card and they cannot do anything to help me.  So, now I am stuck.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Thanks in advance!

[Christina163]

There is a twitter handle called AirbnbHelp who should be able to point you in the right direction. 
The people at Rite Aid should have given you a refund as they sold it to you & they sold it. they should be responsible...how can they not be?

Sounds like low-grade stealing at this point! 

This is why I don' t try to buy people gift cards unless you can email it to them.

[Neil260]

Same issue. Good deal for airbnb to make them like these. They get to keep $.

[Bhumika]

Hi @Neil260 ,

Have you managed to connect with Airbnb Customer Support via the support channels?

You can connect with Airbnb Customer Support via the contact page as well!

Can’t find what you’re searching for? start a conversation

[Brijesh7]

I have the exact same issue. Such badly made gift cards. I talked to customer service of Airbnb as well as that of dollarma and no response in 36 hours now.

[Courtney576]

I'm having this same issue. I have used airbnb for over 10 years. Spent thousands of dollars through them and I was basically told I'm SOL. They don't handle physical gift cards. Why make them where if you scratch it off the whole pin pulls off. Clearly the material its made of doesn't work to be scratched on. I'm LIVID. 

[Courtney576]

We usually book through my husband's airbnb log in so I don't have many stays on mine. Which leads to less than desirable service for me.

[Julie5745]

Was this ever resolved? I'm having the same issue and I've been waiting hours for a manager and nobody is calling me back. It even says in their liability clause that if the gift card is non-functional they will replace the gift card. I really hope they will. It is shocking that a company this big wouldn't help out their customers with something thats already been paid for. 

[Ashley1811]

Dealing with the exact same issue! Airbnb will not help and says it’s Target’s issue. Target says they dont replace 3rd party gift cards and Airbnb is required to resolve. Airbnb just sent this to me, “Unfortunately Airbnb is not able to help or assist you regarding this issue, Target should provide you with other options or solutions because you purchased the card from them, i wish i could do more to help you, but sadly we can't.” Target said “we don’t have access to 3rd party system and cannot replace the card”. It is stealing! They all keep their money and are creating cards in which the stickers remove the PIN numbers with them.  Airbnb is creating these cards. They need to fix this! 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Chris17646 

Sigh...I guess since Airbnb can't assist you, I might be tempted to randomly try numbers for the pin numbers that were missing (you said you were able to see some) until I got it to work when entering the card on a booking...🤔. Depends if you are angry enough and have the time. 

[Barry451]

Feb 5/24

Hello! I received a $500 gift card for Airbnb for Christmas. We had the same experience when attempting to uncover the pin. When we contacted Airbnb we were told there was nothing they could do for us. When we contacted the retailer, who was able to confirm the $500 balance, we were told they could do nothing for us, To make make a this frustrating experience short, we were very persistent and continued to contact Airbnb for a resolution. We finally spoke to a female customer service representative who actually cared. We asked if she could locate the pin for our card number . To our surprise She did!!!!! 

Good luck!

[Joan2709]

@Barry451 

That is awesome! I'm thinking since you could pay for a reservation with a gift card, the gift card info must be kept somewhere by Airbnb. Great job being persistent! Maybe this will help other people in the same boat! @Chris17646 , @Ashley1811 , @Julie5745 @

[Chien-Wen0]

Was this issue solved? I got exactly the same problem…

[Jake610]

I’m also having this same problem. So far no resolution from AirBNB which is very concerning 

[Albert3484 · Accepted solution]

Just wanted to leave a comment here saying that I had a similar issue! I reached out to airbnb support, got routed to the payments team. They responded after about 9 days with the full missing pin and let me know how much was on the card. Super happy to get my money back, kicking myself that I'm an idiot. If you have the same problem, I highly recommend that you reach out to support and be patient.