Insta book, failed payment.

[Niel3]

Was looking through my payments earlier and noticed that I had a still pending one from just under a month ago. It was a couple who stayed 2 nights & booked on the morning that they arrived. When I contacted CS to find out what the issue was I was told that it looks like their payment did not go through and a "system issue" allowed the booking to complete anyway. AirBNB are going to 'reach out' to ask the guest to complete payment for me.....gee thanks, I won't hold my breath. I fully expect that AirBNB will not take responsibility and cover the payment should the guest not complete payment and I will be the one to lose out.

Looks like there may be a loophole whereby guests can get a confirmed insta book, if they do so on the same day as arrival, and it will go through depsite the actual payment not being authorised by their bank.  Has anyone else come across anything similar?

[Linda108]

@Niel3  I have seen your issue posted many times and it is often related to allowing same day bookings.  It appears that some payment options take more than a day to confirm but the guest wants to check in within a few hours.  Perhaps if you do not accept same day bookings, UNLESS the guest contacts you first, you might minimize this type of error and loss.

[Robin4]

@Niel3 @Linda108

Niel, this not is a loophole, it is definitely a glitch in the system which should not have happened! The protocol with Instant bookings is, the payment must be confirmed at the time of booking! If the payment method rejects the payment when the booking is placed, the guest should be informed that they have to submit a reservation request to the host in order to book, (they cannot Instant Book) and this then gives them 24 hours to put an acceptable payment option in place that Airbnb can access before it either becomes a confirmed reservation or lapses, and it does prevent unpaid for arrivals. This is done to protect hosts from just the scenario that you have brought up here!

It is possible the guest cancelled their bank authority and payment will now be hard to access, although that would be a stupid move on the part of the guest if they ever wish to use Airbnb again!

I would suggest you take this up via a Twitter feed! Although I do not have personal knowledge of this I understand that Airbnb's Twitter feeds are staffed by personnel who have a higher level of accessability and decision making and this could be to your advantage here with regard to this outstanding amount!

All the best Niel, I hope you can get this sorted out.

Cheers.....Rob

[Niel3]

Thanks @Robin4, I initiated contact via their twiter feed who passed it on to "general" CS so it's a case of sit and wait now.  Fortunately it was only a 2 night booking  so although annoying will not destroy me. 🙂

[Robin4]

@Niel3

Niel, that does surprise me to hear about your Twitter experience. As I said I have never had to resort to Twitter but everything I have read here suggests they have a higher level of expertise than phone agents!

I still say that this should not have been allowed to happen. A booking should not just go through unless it is paid for!  At times I wish for the back up material I had when I was part of CS, but lamentably, that is gone.

On another tack, I, in the past have been (via phone and computer) in a three way conversation with a guest sitting on the side of the road 70 Kms from here, and a CS agent in Manilla trying to sort out a suitable payment method for the guests impending arrival.

That is going to the other extreme but....we sorted it out!

Cheers.....Rob

[Niel3]

@Robin417 years of running an Ebay business trying to deal with a CS based in Manilla was bad enough, I laughed in despair at the irony when I realised my new venture's CS was also based there (probably the same contracted out call centre). I won't even bother phoning if it goes south from here. 🙂

[Ange2]

@Niel3    Same day bookings are a problem in many ways, especially with new airbnber's.  I accept many new Airbnber's but never for same day bookings.  There is no guarantee that the payment or the verifications have been verified even when presented as such.  I have had bookings a few days away and have received messages after acceptance saying payment has not been verified and have had to wait 24 hours for confirmation with the days blocked.  If they had been same day bookings  I could have been out of luck – some were cancelled by Airbnb the next day because neither the payment nor the verifications were verifiable.

[Letti0]

@Niel3  Try to get the guest to use the PayPal payment option for sameday bookings. It's instant confirmation and actually charged and processed right away unlike a credit card.