As a host, have you approved a guest's request for a long-term stay?
If 'yes', when you went through the steps in your profile to approve the request were you made aware at any point in the process that the payout would be in installments versus full payout after the guest arrives? This question is for your profile experience, not if you came to this forum to get answers, but rather, did Airbnb tell you at any point in this process that the payout structure is different when you approved a long-term stay?
I approved a long-term stay and my guest has arrived, however, I was under the impression that the payout structure was the same as short-term stays because there was no information divulged throughout the entire process of approving this booking that the terms were different. This is very important information for a host to know upfront in order to make the best decision for themselves. A host should be made aware of this payout structure BEFORE he/she can approve it. I called customer service to ask where this information is specifically on the Airbnb website for hosts to be made aware of and she said the only place is in the Help section. How is this helpful?? How about putting it where a host can see it before they make their decision?! Am I supposed to be psychic and know the payout is different even though nothing is different in the approval process, but rather is exactly the same for short-term & long-term requests? This information is crucial in the decision-making to approve a long-term guest or not! Why is this left out??
I then asked if my cancellation policy is non-refundable why are the funds being withheld and paid over installments? I quickly found out that even though my cancellation policy is stated as non-refundable that actually, it is refundable if the guest decides to cancel at any point during the reservation. I would only receive a payout for 30 days after the cancellation but not for the remainder of the booked stay. How is this non-refundable?! ALL of this is ESSENTIAL information to share with the host. The host shouldn't be blindsided by any of this nor have to ask other hosts on Airbnb what the payout structure looks like when this is, in fact, a responsibility of Airbnb to tell the host before they approve or decline a request.
I've been told by multiple customer service representatives that this is the way it is and no adjustments can or will be made. I'm sharing this to see if anyone else has or had similar frustrations and in what ways did you contact Airbnb, other than customer service on the phone or here? This is unacceptable and unethical to not share this upfront. It's quite simply a very easy fix for Airbnb to add a section that is obvious to the host to know these very important details, yet so strategically left out...
