I signed up for one of those AmEx gold cards to receive a bunch of points redeemable for gift cards a few months back. Now, a proud owner of promised points, I decided to buy a $100 gift card to AirBnB and book my first reservation.
Interestingly enough, I was not able to apply the amount of my eGift card towards my account as it gave me an error saying that my Gift card was invalid. Looking through the tiny print on my pdf version of the eGift card I noticed that I have to submit the code as a "Coupon Code" instead of a gift card. I successfully made the first reservation.
Now on to the second one... This was not as easy. Every time I would enter the same coupon code, AirBnB would say there was an error. So I called AmEx... After 10 minutes on the phone with the representative arguing with her that you should be able to use a gift card more than once, I was placed on another hold. Finally, she found another level of Terms and Conditions that says:
"You are encouraged to use the value of your Airbnb eGift Card code in a single transaction. However, you will be issued a new Airbnb eGift Card code for any unused residual value via email within 5 business days from the date of your booking using the original Airbnb eGift Card code."
So that means that I have to wait a week (!!!) to get the remaining balance of my gift card! Luckily, this was the last reservation I really needed to make, so I am ok. But I am certainly canceling that card and will not use AmEx at all just because of their poor customer service.
Yes, it is nice to redeem 10,000 points for $100, but make sure you use it all at once or you will have to wait a week for the remaining balance. Additionally, "only one Airbnb eGift Card code can be used per booking and may not be combined with any other Airbnb coupon or discount code." Too many rules? You bet! Nice job AmEx!
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