They also advertised from the popular accommodation booking platform.
After information appeared on social networks that the popular platform for advertising accommodation and real estate AirBnb had imposed sanctions on our country, we decided to check this.
Namely, one Serbian citizen allegedly found himself in an awkward situation, because he could not book accommodation, and a shocking message followed from their Support Center.
- Thank you for waiting and I apologize for this inconvenience. After checking, our system has detected that your payment method is located in a country that is currently under sanctions. You will need to change your payment method if you want to make this reservation – according to the response received from the Air Bnb Support Center.
After he asked which countries exactly it refers to and what exact sanctions, another answer allegedly arrived:
- If the system detects (payment) from Serbia and Russia, it automatically blocks – it is stated.
Airbnb imposed sanctions on Serbia?
AirBnb says: Only for Russia and Belarus!
After this information, we got in touch with AirBnb, who, above all, expressed their willingness to resolve the specific case. However, they say, the sanctions apply only to Russia and Belarus.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to investigate the specific case of the user you mentioned without account information. However, I can clarify that Airbnb does not impose any restrictions or sanctions on payment methods from Serbia. We respect the sanctions affecting financial institutions in Russia and Belarus – they emphasize.
Sanctions against Russia are also highlighted on the website
The ban on payments from Russia is also highlighted on their platform.
- Due to recent regulations, Airbnb can no longer process transactions associated with certain financial institutions in Russia and Belarus. This is an ongoing situation and we will provide further guidance as we receive more information. –
They further state that this may affect users who offer rentals through AirBnb if guests from this country are unable to make the payment. They state that in that case it is necessary to change the payment method or wait for the transaction to be processed when the sanctions are lifted.
Similarly, guests whose payment is declined are advised to change their payment method.