7 Ways to Be Paid Collect Cash for Your AirBnB Short-Term Rental in Kenya

One of the most frequently asked question I’ve been getting since I published my Comprehensive Guide to Starting an AirBnB in Kenya is how to get paid for your AirBnB in Kenya, AirBnB host payment methods in Kenya or rather, how to get money from your AirBnB hosts in Kenya.

If you’re using AirBnB to list your property in Kenya, then AirBnB would collect the money from guests on your behalf and then pay you depending on what medium you choose to be paid in less their commission.

However, if you’re using other short term rental property listing sites in Kenya such as Booking.com, Jumia, etc, then in that case you will collect money from your guests and then pay the listing platform their commission. Usually, they’d invoice you at the end of the month and expect payment in about a week or two.

So, without much further ado, following are 7 main ways to get paid for your AirBnB property business in Kenya:

Payoneer Prepaid Debit Card/Bank Transfer

Payoneer.com (25$ free at sign up)

To receive your AirBnB payments from customers guests in Kenya, you simply share your Payoneer bank account details (check on your Payoneer dashboard).

1. If you sign up to Payoneer with this link here, your get $25 free the moment you accumulate the first $1,000 into your account.
2. No limit to how much money you can receive on your Payoneer Debit prepaid card account.
3. With Payoneer you get a local bank account in the USA (in US$), Europe (or euros), the United Kingdom (in pounds) & Japan (in Yen) so no need for multiple currency conversions = extra cash in your pocket.
4. In addition to AirBnB, Payoneer works as a way method of getting paid online in Kenya by many other companies and freelance marketplaces such as Amazon, Fiverr, Upwork, 99 Designs, Uber, Coinbase, etc. This means you get to manage your payments from one card.
5. You can use your Payoneer card to withdraw money from ATMs in Kenya and worldwide using the usual withdrawal procedures and your PIN.
6. It is free to get the Payoneer card.

Disadvantages of using Payoneer to withdraw your AirBnB earnings in Kenya

1. There are charges associated with withdrawal fees. Please check this link for Payoneer charges for Kenya.

Paypal

To use PayPal to receive your AirBnB payments payouts in Kenya, you must first open a PayPal account or use your existing one.

Once you sign up for PayPal, you basically use the email address associated with it as the PayPal account.

Find out more about how to open a PayPal business account in Kenya, including how to connect your PayPal to M-Pesa, and how to deposit money to PayPal in Kenya using M-Pesa.

Advantages of receiving your AirBnB Payouts in Kenya using PayPal:

1. You can transfer your PayPal receipts directly into M-Pesa. See how in this post here.
2. If your property is listed on AirBnB, after Airbnb releases your payout, PayPal typically avails the funds to your account within 1 business day. However, if the client pays you directly, you get it availed to your PayPal account almost immediately.
3. With your PayPal account, you can pay for online purchases directly even if you don’t have a credit card.
4. Sending money to family and friends in Kenya and other parts of the world using PayPal is free.

Disadvantages of receiving your AirBnB Payments in Kenya using PayPal

1.  Like Payoneer, when you sign up for a business account, PayPal charges 2.9% (plus $0.30) when receiving money for goods or services in Kenya. Check out this link for PayPal fees charges if you live in Kenya.
2. It costs more money to transfer money from your PayPal into M-Pesa.
3. PayPal is notorious for freezing accounts – plus the funds in it – without warning. PayPal may freeze your account if they suspect that you are breaking any of their terms of service. Unfortunately, the internet is awash with complaints of people who had their PayPal accounts frozen for ‘no apparent reason’ and ‘without and explanation’especially when they started receiving what PayPal considers ‘significantly high amounts of money’.
4. Verification issues. When you sign up for a PayPal account, you will need to verify the account using a debit card, credit card, or your bank account information, in order to limit some restrictions put on your account e.g. deposit and withdrawal limits, account freezing etc.

Direct bank deposit / Automated Clearing House (ACH)

This is basically where you issue your bank account details and either AirBnB or your guest and they transfer the money directly.

Advantages of receiving your AirBnB Payouts in Kenya by direct bank deposit/International wire

1. AirBnB hosts normally do not need to pay any fees to have money directly deposited into their account via ACH or international wire.  Though some banks may charge for this.
2. ACH direct bank deposits allows you to receive your money into the account, and it also provides additional options such as online payments, and person-to-person transfers.

Disadvantages of receiving your AirBnB Payouts in Kenya by direct bank deposit/international wire

1. High odds of fraud as you have to give your full bank account details, and your personal information  your including your account number, routing number, address, etc.
2. May take a while between when the funds are sent to your bank account in Kenya and when you can actually access it.
3. Fees may apply.

Western Union / Moneygram

Western Union or Moneygram is another alternative way of getting paid for your AirBnB business in Kenya.

Advantages of receiving your AirBnB Payouts in Kenya by Western Union / Moneygram

1. Very easy to accept AirBnB payments in Kenya. You typically only need to provide either AirBnB or your guest with your name as it appears on your official ID.
2. Location – Western Union/Moneygram have many agent locations across Kenya and worldwide – including all the banks in Kenya.
3. Instant transfers – With Western Union/Moneygram, your AirBnB payments are instantly available upon transfer.
4. You do not require a credit card, debit card, or bank account to withdraw your money from Western Union/Moneygram only an ID like a passport or a driver’s license and the 10 digit number is required.

Disadvantages of receiving your AirBnB Payouts in Kenya by Western Union / Moneygram

1. Can be cumbersome. You must physically walk into a Western Union / Moneygram agent to collect the payments in person. You cannot automatically transfer the money to M-Pesa, a bank account or credit card.
2. Currency exchange losses when you collect your funds since you can only receive your funds in the local currency of where your agent is located.
3. You cannot virtually track your Western Union/Moneygram payments from guests.
4. With MoneyGram, you can only receive payments from guests in the United States
5. Easy target for scam artists due to funds being virtually untraceable when received.

Cash on arrival

You can also accept cash payments for your AirBnB in Kenya.

Advantages of accepting Cash payments for your AirBnB in Kenya

1. No additional fees incurred in receiving the money
2. Fast and convenient to accept cash payments for your AirBnB

Disadvantages of accepting Cash payments for your AirBnB in Kenya

1. You can easily be defrauded with fake money
2. Can be stolen easily during transfer from the property or while stored at the property
3. Struggling with issuing change/balance money especially when guest pay in foreign currency and insist on being given change in foreign currency

Credit Cards or Debit Cards 

For me this has been the greatest selling point for my booking.com guest.

In order to be able accept Credit card or debit card payments for your AirBnB or short term rental in Kenya, you will need to contact your bank and request them for a POS terminal to enable guests to swipe their cards.

The POS machine credit card machine will enable you to charge your guests who want to pay by credit card or debit card.

Advantages of accepting Credit Card/Debit Card payments for your AirBnB in Kenya

1. Accepting credit cards or debit cards at your AirBnB in Kenya could boost your bookings. Very few travelers these days travel with cash. Cardholders are more likely to book a stay at a property that accepts credit cards than one that’s cash only. Statistics show that more than 90% of online payments are done using credit cards. So if your are offering a service on the internet and yet not accepting cards on your AirBnB, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table from potential guest. Especially so from guests who prefer the flexibility of platform like booking.com which has an option for free cancellations as well as the option to pay for your stay on arrival. The moment I started accepting credit cards for my AirBnb, I saw see a corresponding increase in stays almost immediately.
2. Very fast and convenient especially if you get the right POS machine. Besides the convenience factor, many customers want to use their credit cards to earn card rewards points towards merchandise and cash back.
3. Hotels in your area are one of your main competitors. And they probably are already accepting cards. Don’t lose a potential guest to another AirBnB or hotel simply because you don’t accept cards.
4. Cardholders tend to be more affluent and are generally impulse buyers. Thus, they are not limited to spending just the physical cash they have at hand. Accepting card payments therefore gives you an opportunity to upsell. In my AirBnB for instance, I had a small cabinet in the living room corner that stocked African accessories such as maasai earrings, maasai sandals, kiondo baskets etc. So I made several sales from my guests (including those who didn’t have cash).
5. With card payments, if a guest causes damages to your AirBnB inventories, you can take care of it with 100% ease.
6. As client will be swiping their card in your presence, you have the added advantage of asking for valid ID and reducing instances of fraud
7.  Accepting credit cards gives your AirBnB some level of legitimacy. When I received my POS machine, the bank gave me stickers with various credit card provider logos which I stuck at my AirBnB living room as an accepted form of payment. The created a sense of familiarity and trust in my AirBnB guests’ minds. Several actually were kind enough to mention this to me.
8. Accepting credit cards for your AirBnB gives you digital visibility since your POS machine is linked to a bank account. So each time a guest swipes, there is a trail which comes in handy especially when you need services such as a bank loan, to apply for a visa, etc.

Disadvantages of accepting Credit Card/Debit Card payments for your AirBnB in Kenya

1. Speed and completion of transaction dependent on POS issuer and internet.
2. Clients who pay via credit card may dispute bill at a later time. I personally have never faced this challenge.

M-Pesa

To accepts payments for your AirBnB in Kenya using M-Pesa, you can choose to have guests send money directly to your personal M-Pesa number or register a separate PayBill/ Buy Goods till number for your property.

Advantages of accepting M-Pesa payments for your AirBnB in Kenya

1. Easy payment method for your local domestic tourist/guests
2. M-Pesa reciepts can be tracked virtually instantly and monthly via M-Pesa statements.
3. M-Pesa transfers are instant and you get an alert on your phone immediately the guest pays
4. M-Pesa receipts can be used to make purchases pretty much everywhere in Kenya and also to pay bills.
5. Sometimes the M-Pesa system can be down

Disadvantages of accepting M-Pesa payments for your AirBnB in Kenya

1. Is only accessible to people with an M-Pesa account.
2. It costs money to withdraw the funds from your M-Pesa account

Closing thoughts

Getting paid for your AirBnB business should now no longer be a big deal.

I have given several payment methods for your AiBnB business in Kenya that I have personally used.

I have tried my best to be extremely transparent in my analysis of each of these options based on my experience so you have something to make a decision off of.

Don’t use only the cost factor as a decision matrix. Weigh all the options, both the pros and cons.

Personally I use all methods above except Western Union but my favorites are cash and credit cards/debit cards (using my POS machine) to accept Booking.com payments; and the Payoneer Prepaid Debit Card that I have linked to my AirBnB account.

What do you think of these alternative methods for accepting AirBnB payments in Kenya from guests? Have you ever used it any of the methods to get paid for your AirBnB business in Nairobi Kenya? Do drop in your comments below. I’d love to read them.