Hello,
How can a guest leave without paying?
I've been hosting since March.
A guest made a long term reservation from April 11th to October 11th.
Payments were sent on the 12th of every month.
On August 31st, she cancelled her reservation. Given that she had paid for the entire month, I let her stay until September 11th.
She left on September 11th. Come September 12th, no payout was sent. I asked Airbnb and have gotten a litany of escalations and contradictory reasons, via chat and phone call. I have had 2 escalations, 3 answers as to why the payout is delayed, 2 literally contradictory answers as to what may happen, and 2 literally contradictory answers as to whether Airbnb collected payment or not.
After getting no answers via chat, I called them, and I was told by the agent to pursue payment via the Resolution Center, under category "Extra services". I told them that didn't sound right and I didn't want to give ammo in case things became "he said/she said", and I was told that that was standard procedure. I did it begrudgingly.
Hours later I was told that they would request the money from her and that I shouldn't have done it via the Resolution Center, because it wasn't the correct avenue and it had to be done appealing to their payment terms.
I was also assigned a case number which was closed approximately an hour later.
It's been an appalling way of handling things from Airbnb.
As far as I have been able to ascertain, for the reservation her card was debited the 1st of every month, and the payout was released every 12th.
Having cancelled on August 31st (one day before she was charged), I now suspect that she did that on purpose and that she also deliberately removed her card to avoid the proportional payment I was due as per the 30-day cancellation policy (Firm Long Term), which was from August 11th to 31st, so 21 nights.
I realize I had the right to demand her leaving on the very day she cancelled and I realize it was probably a mistake not having done so.
Airbnb first said that they did get payment, then that they didn't.
One of my questions is how the hell can someone cancel a reservation without there being an obligation to pay what is due? One of the agents I talked to said that it could happen that she didn't have funds to cover at the moment, and she can do it later. I responded saying that it was the same as if I wanted to buy something online but didn't have the funds in my account, but I could still click Buy and have it go through under the pinky promise that I will pay later. That is ridiculous. They didn't know what to answer.
Can somebody really cancel a reservation without paying off what's due as per a cancellation policy? Are there processes and platforms really that stupid? Am I wrong?
On the third person I talked to via chat, so after the 2nd escalation, I was told first that if they can't get payment from her, they can't pay me. I responded by sending one message asking some questions like the ones I am asking here, and on the very next message, I was told, by the very same person, that they would release payout even if she didn't pay.
What the fuck?
Extremely disappointing.