Airbnb’s New Payment Terms: A Subtle Shift with Serious Implications for Hosts

[Jacob Morgenstern]

Airbnb recently updated its Payment Terms (effective June 26, 2025), and while the language is wrapped in formality, the implications are loud and clear—especially if you treat hosting like a real business.

These aren’t minor changes. They represent a deeper shift in Airbnb’s posture toward hosts, and every professional operator should be paying attention.

Let’s break it down.

1. Guests Can Now Lock Your Calendar—Without Paying Upfront

With Airbnb’s continued support for deferred payment options (like Klarna, Pay Over Time, etc.), guests can book your place without immediate financial commitment.

If they cancel within a few days of check-in—often as late as 72 hours before—you may be left with zero payout and a blocked calendar.

It’s effectively free calendar locking for guests, while hosts eat the opportunity cost. That’s not a risk-sharing model—that’s a one-sided deal.

2. Chargebacks After Checkout? You’re Still On the Hook

Here’s something that just happened to me personally:

A guest completed a $7,000+ stay at one of our properties. All seemed fine. Then, three months later, they opened a claim with Airbnb.

Without warning, $2,300 was clawed back from my account. Airbnb kept their service fee. I got hit with the loss.

Under the new terms, Airbnb makes it clear: if a guest disputes a charge—even well after their stay—the host can be held financially responsible. There's no guarantee of protection, and Airbnb decides whether to reimburse at their sole discretion.

That’s not just frustrating—it’s destabilizing for any business that relies on predictable cash flow.

3. Your Payouts? Airbnb Can Now Delay or Withhold Them

The updated terms give Airbnb wide discretion to delay or adjust your payouts if they detect risk factors—like a new account, irregular booking behavior, or pending documentation.

They’re not required to give a timeline. And no, you don’t earn interest while your money sits in limbo.

This isn't just a theoretical clause—it’s happening to hosts, especially those scaling quickly or operating multiple listings.

So, What Does This All Mean?

It means we’re seeing a shift—from a platform that simply facilitates bookings to one that increasingly controls the flow of funds and risk exposure.

They aren’t marketing these terms as “guest perks.” But when push comes to shove, the policies favor the guest, not the host.

Every update seems to follow a pattern:

• More flexibility for guests

• More risk for hosts

• More discretion for Airbnb

And let’s be real—when a company retains its fee while you take a loss, that’s not a partnership. That’s a platform monetizing both sides and insulating itself from the downside.

[Melissa Justice]

I've been collecting emails as of late right at booking as a way to then direct market to past guests through the website we created through Lodgify. I pay a $50/month for the site. That of course will take time to create (I did it in about a day), and there are many user-friendly templates. I set up Stripe for ACH payments when guests book direct. I also send out a newsletter 1-2x per month via Mailchamp (free) to the emails I have on file promoting some event(s) in the area and saying "Book direct to get best pricing" or something along those lines. I use PriceLabs for automatic pricing to put our home in the top percentile in our market. We also have an IG page for more exposure. Does it take some extra effort and work? Yes. But, this has been a long time coming with these STR booking platforms. We need to adapt or die as they say...