What a horror story this Plus program has been every step of the way. Firstly, they have a list of “must have” things in the home, and there is zero flexibility for logic. For instance, I had to get a carbon monoxide detector even though there is absolutely no gas/propane in the house or on the property. Then they sent their “specialty trained inspector” to take inventory and take photos. The young woman was nice…but she didn’t have any design training or sensibility whatsoever. And, she missed obvious things such as the ironing board and iron (both of which were in plain sight in the laundry room). Because she apparently hadn’t photographed them, I had to go through an annoying process of taking my own photos of them and having my “fix” approved by AirBnB. There were a whole list of these “fixes”, none of which were anything other than their oversight or miscommunication with the Inspector.
When I finally got through that stage I was sent the photos and copy to review. Many of the pictures were nice, but some were downright stupid. The cover photo for the phone access (must be a vertical photo, apparently) was of a blank corner of the room, showing a bit of the sofa and a lamp. ??? Why would someone get excited about that and click further???
Then, after lots of back and forth and edits galore to the stupid copy they’d provided from their “expert editors” (realest with grammatical errors and complete failure to highlight the important bits), I FINALLY was able to publish the Plus listing.
Now the kicker: my listing has essentially disappeared. I used to get top billing as a SuperHost. Now, despite their claims of primary listing - the only way my listing shows up is if someone specifically includes “Plus” in their free-text search criteria. Are
Are these people insane??!! Their “solution” was to tell me that I can delist off of Plus if I don’t like how it works. I asked them to explain how they can claim that a plus listings get more views and they claim that “everyone” searches for Plus. Good grief.
Most of the posts about Plus here have been complaints, but then again, most people that are satisfied wouldn’t have the motivation to post.
Sorry to hear of your challenges. Some of which have been documented herein, although the listing priority is a new one, and one I’ve not experienced.
I would suggest that you search ‘AirBnb Plus’ within this forum, and you’ll discover many, many, many posts and comments on the subject.
PS. To near quote an old SNL sketch. Plus “has been bedy bedy good to me”
I had read the stories and forged ahead anyway, figuring that the OnBoarding issues were temporary pains for eventual payoff. But the listing issues are shocking and new to me. The rep to whom I spoke tried to convince me that it was a good thing that it no longer shows up in searches that don’t specifically mention Plus. That was icing on the cake for absurdity.
I search all the time for Airbnbs, I never put Plus in. I search for city, dates, IB and SH first. Often I put a price limit. I see Plus listings mixed in with non-plus in cities that offer plus.
I would be discouraged too given the level of difficulty you’ve had getting your Plus listing going.
I noticed Airbnb has Luxe in addition to Plus now. Good for them, attracting higher end properties.
I think in the right environment Plus would be a real boost. In a recent search of Asheville NC, PLUS listings displayed with other entire home listings. A separate search wasn’t required.
They’re telling you that because in some areas, such as mine, if you do a general search for listings in our city it will auto filter PLUS on the app. They won’t even show regular listings even though I put in no such filter.
They told me that it only auto filters for Plus if you’ve searched on Plus previously. And, since there are only a few Plus listings in my area, they don’t group them. Since it seems to now bypass SuperHost, I end up lower in results than previously!
Right. They’re mixed in…which means that it shows up way further down the list than it would have with just SuperHost designation. And since I tend to get fewer, longer-term rentals, I’m really lower on the list - despite a perfect 5 star record and Plus designation!
They’d promised that Plus would appear first. They lied. Plain and simple.
You keep mentioning Superhost, but Superhost hasn’t affected search ranking for a long time.
I think it might be area specific. In my area they show SuperHost listings first. Maybe it’s a volume question. We have enough SuperHosts to allow them to be at top without overwhelming. But Plus was meant to be higher ranking than SuperHost, but perhaps because we have too few of them in my area, they don’t group them together like they do in bigger urban areas?
Just a guess based on how I see SuperHost and Plus working in other areas vs my own.
It’s been mentioned before that Superhost itself does not provide a search rank boost, but a subset of the metrics that affect Superhost status do affect your search ranking.
Edit: found it on Airbnb’s website. See the following page: Understanding Listings–>Superhost.
Unfortunately, they aren’t forthcoming about exactly how it works, which means they want the option to change how it works on a whim.
Because after all that work, id prefer to work with them to improve the experience.
Good luck w that. If I found PLUS was reducing my visibility and likely revenue, I’d be gone, or taking a break (as they phrase it).
In my case my visibility is high and my rates, bookings, and revenue are higher than before PLUS, so I accept the quirks
I have been resisting Abb’s constant push to make me a “Plus” account. First; I don’t want to encourage super-picky guests. Just “picky” guests are already annoying. Second; I saw what they did to a listing I used to own. They replaced the beautiful professional photo of the sunset view over the ocean with a faded out daytime view of the same thing! The one I gave them was much better! Second, I don’t search for “Plus” listings when I’m planning a trip. Who wants to pay more just because the decor may be a bit nicer or whatever? I DO, however, search for other Superhosts, because you know they are getting 5 stars consistently and the space will be clean and comfortable. Third; I don’t believe their claim that I could earn $1600-1800 more per month by switching to Plus.