Want to earn some free money, and invest at the same time? Back in May, I wrote a piece on the investing app Acorns in which I outlined what the service is and how you can easily invest without doing anything other than making your normal purchases on a linked debit or credit card.
One of the features of the Acorns phone app that I find to be most intriguing is the “Found Money” feature they added towards the beginning of 2016. With this program, Acorns is rewarding consumers for using their linked credit or debit cards at certain retailers by depositing free money into their Acorns investment accounts. Just last week, Acorns made an announcement that caught my eye. As of yesterday, they have added Airbnb as a partner for their “Found Money” program.
What is the “Found Money” Program?
As mentioned above, “Found Money” is Acorns way of rewarding consumers for using their linked cards at certain retailers by depositing money into their Acorns investment accounts. All you have to do is pay for your transaction using your credit or debit card linked to the Acorns service, and they will take care of the rest.
What Will The Airbnb “Found Money” Offer Be?
There will be two ways in which you can earn “Found Money” with Airbnb which are as follows:
- Airbnb hosts will get $50 invested into their Acorns account when they host their first booking.
- Airbnb guests will get 15% of the Guest Service fee put into their Acorns account. For Free!
Guest service fees are charged to help cover the costs of running Airbnb, and the amount of the fee varies and is based on a percentage of the reservation subtotal (before fees and taxes). Guest service fees are typically 6-12% of the total reservation cost, but can be higher or lower depending on the specifics of the reservation. All you have to do is pay for your Airbnb reservation with the card you have linked to the Acorns service and you will automatically receive the 15% found money, guest services fee as a deposit into your Acorns account! It's that simple.
Thrifty Tip #1: New to Acorns? Sign up using my referral link and we will both get $5 deposited into our accounts!
Thrifty Tip #2: New to Airbnb? Sign up using my referral link and we will both receive $35 to use towards our next bookings.
Bottom Line
While I love the Airbnb service, one of the only issues I have with it is the lack of a rewards program, which is offered by all of their hotel competitors. I do think this is something that Airbnb will likely add as they continue to grow, however, the “Found Money” feature is certainly a nice alternative in the meantime. I recently stayed in an Airbnb property on a trip to Italy. Had the “Found Money” feature been in effect in September, I would have earned $14.25 which would have been deposited in my Acorns account. I have been using the Acorns service for about a year now and have been pleasantly surprised at how fast my “spare change” has added up. This is simple, mindless investing that can turn into meaningful wealth over time. It will be interesting to see how they can grow the “Found Money” feature beyond the retailers and services they already have to provide continued value to consumers.
