I have had two separate “awaiting payment” issues two days in a row. Airbnb doesn’t give you any indication that a guest’s payment may not be valid until you accept the reservation. This automatically holds the reservation and prohibits the host from declining guests or opening up for other guests that might have their affairs in order. I called Airbnb and spoke to a representative about declining these guests; they would not change their policy, so my listing is off the market with no secured payment for 24 hours. Why would Airbnb hold a host’s opportunity to make money hostage? I was told that the odds of the payment issue being fixed are greater than the chances of it failing. Nevertheless, Airbnb takes all the host’s rights away in order to protect the company’s interests for 24 hours. The fact that a host hits accept and gets an immediate “uh oh… there seems to be a problem with the payment” is proof that the software Airbnb uses can immediately detect if there is an issue with a guest’s payment option. This simple line or two of software code should be implemented when guests click “book”, not when the host gets stuck with a blocked calendar. I told this to the Airbnb representative… he would not help me cancel the reservation awaiting payment and left me feeling like this policy is not going to change.
lysnns – You do realize it doesn’t charge until it’s accepted by the host, right?
Alex B – who are you? As far as I know, Airbnb doesn’t have a courtesy 24 hour hold feature for creditless would-be guests. This seems to penalize the host when most other sites I’ve used – expedia, for example, charge your card immediately and tell you immediately if your card is no good. No card working = no pending reservation. Don’t book unless you can afford it with accurate credit card information. It seems fraudulent to use non-working cc info to attempt to book.
It sound like you’re a “taker” and abusing the time of hosts.
And it’s a damn good policy. 24hrs won’t break you and it’s fair to allow the guest some time to arrange things. You don’t like the policy? Find something else to do