Post by High Priestess on Jun 23, 2017 14:06:35 GMT
So now Airbnb is adding split payment options for groups.
thenextweb.com/apps/2017/06/22/airbnb-is-adding-split-payments-so-your-friends-dont-leave-you-hanging/#.tnw_ATBDNUZi
Does that sound good...or maybe....not?
Think about it -- one of the reasons that people were advocating for split payments, was because some members of the group were not responsible enough to pay their share.
How's that going to be resolved by making Airbnb or the host the person collecting the payments, instead of one of the people in the group?
I dont' see why groups are having such trouble arranging payment among themselves. This is simple: a group leader asks everyone in the group to pay their share of the estimated reservation fee to him/her by a certain date and time. Eg, "pay me $200 by June 28 at 5pm..." If you can't depend on someone to pay in time, that person shouldn't be in your group. Once the leader gets all the payments, they can pay for the reservation. If they don't get all the payments, they refund everyone and cancel the trip and lecture their friends for being flakes.
What Airbnb has done doesn't fix the problem of someone in the group not able or willing to pay. It simply transfers the problem of missing payments to the host. And how's it going to work for a reservation to get booked? If 5 people are supposed to split payments, and 1 pays to begin with, is the reservation booked based on that one payment? How long do the others have to pay? Is the host's calendar blocked with the first payment, or is it not blocked/booked until the last payment comes in?
We all have heard stories of Airbnb cancelling a hosts' reservation when, apparently several weeks after the guest paid, Airbnb now says that the payment didn't come through. That shouldn't happen. I am afraid that "split payments" will exacerbate this problem.
thenextweb.com/apps/2017/06/22/airbnb-is-adding-split-payments-so-your-friends-dont-leave-you-hanging/#.tnw_ATBDNUZi
Does that sound good...or maybe....not?
Think about it -- one of the reasons that people were advocating for split payments, was because some members of the group were not responsible enough to pay their share.
How's that going to be resolved by making Airbnb or the host the person collecting the payments, instead of one of the people in the group?
I dont' see why groups are having such trouble arranging payment among themselves. This is simple: a group leader asks everyone in the group to pay their share of the estimated reservation fee to him/her by a certain date and time. Eg, "pay me $200 by June 28 at 5pm..." If you can't depend on someone to pay in time, that person shouldn't be in your group. Once the leader gets all the payments, they can pay for the reservation. If they don't get all the payments, they refund everyone and cancel the trip and lecture their friends for being flakes.
What Airbnb has done doesn't fix the problem of someone in the group not able or willing to pay. It simply transfers the problem of missing payments to the host. And how's it going to work for a reservation to get booked? If 5 people are supposed to split payments, and 1 pays to begin with, is the reservation booked based on that one payment? How long do the others have to pay? Is the host's calendar blocked with the first payment, or is it not blocked/booked until the last payment comes in?
We all have heard stories of Airbnb cancelling a hosts' reservation when, apparently several weeks after the guest paid, Airbnb now says that the payment didn't come through. That shouldn't happen. I am afraid that "split payments" will exacerbate this problem.
