DO NOT REFER HOSTS

[Julia3055]

Airbnb is NOT paying hosts who referral other hosts.

My friend who is a host referred me to be a host. I've activated a listing and completed my first stay, and am in middle of my second. They are qualifying reservations, but neither me nor my friend got our reward. And from what Airbnb told me, we are not going to. 

I just got off the phone with them. I provided a copy of the referral link as well as the screenshot from the page the link leads to, that still says "get an extra $40 after completing your first reservation." From my friend's end, it says he gets $600 if he makes a successful referral. 

They claim they discontinued that program since May 2022. However, it STILL says on the website and the app that I can get reward for referring a host.

When I pointed this out, all I got from the rep is that he doesn't know why the website isn't updated, that he thought it was, and that he will make sure to give the feedback to the right people. However from browsing this forum, it seems like the lack of payout has been going on for months and months. 

It's very shady Airbnb practice, there is nothing on their website or app that says it's been discontinued. In fact, there's still the information about the program on the website and option for me to send referral links to new hosts. 

Fix your deceitful business practices, Airbnb! 

[Gwen386]

Thank you for letting us know. 

[Byron116]

I've been cheated by AirBnB twice with that. The first time they claim the link wasn't used, asked me to send correspondence between me and the person I was referring then rejected it all. The second time I made sure the link was used including some footage, but they said it was discontinued "in my area" although I've gotten pop-ups after every checkout saying the promotion was still in effect. It's not deception. It's flat out lying.

[Sharon1893]

I am going in circles with them on a referral I got for them just this past January. You should hear the ridiculous excuses I’ve been given as to why they aren’t paying up. I keep asking to escalate my case to someone with the authority to approve my reward. Every time, I get a message from a “supervisor “ who presents yet another excuse. They started out with, “the link you sent was expired”. How is that possible when I took it from my dashboard the day I emailed it to her and she set up her listing  the same day! I even sent screenshots of the email with the date, and screenshots of her listing with the same date.  The most recent one is that my friend was a host in 2012 and then stopped hosting. My friend had never even heard of AirBnB in 2012!  Each time I reply that their response is unsatisfactory and I give more evidence and argument as to why I and my friend should be paid. Follow f that, I will get a call from a representative, who has no authority to approve squat, and we start all over again. Told the last one to read the chat thread or check the notes of the last two representatives and then give me someone higher up the food chain who has the power to pay up.

They are squirming and I’m not letting them off the hook. I am looking for others who have been denied their referral reward. I am speaking with an attorney friend to see if we have a class action suit for deceptive business practices. Let me know if you or your friend is interested. No obligation.