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In this never-ending quest to discover how in the heck I can show up when potential guests search, I am perplexed by the “Any Week” option. I feel like someone posted/commented about this but I couldn’t find it. I apologize if I’m duplicating.
To start, I opened my calendar up to 6 months (normally 3) based on some feedback from this forum. I added a weekly discount, updated some pics/title and lowered some prices. Now, when I do a " Any Week" search with as much filtering as I can apply to narrow the search and still keep myself in the mix, the first thing is (I’m on the website via MAC/Chrome & not the app):
They show 1 or 2 places very near me but not me (& several others), leaving the first impression that those couple shown are the only options in that area
I only show up if I zoom in TWICE on that map location.
I’m not too sharp I guess, as it took me several rounds to figure out it was bouncing around various areas as I went from page to page showing a sampling in each area based on which page the listing showed up on (listing order).
It showed some randomly available week a couple of months out when I’m wide open from now until forever.
I guess I get it, somewhat. It is just a super weird way to compare listings and at first I was thinking the available week shown was the soonest available for that property. User error I guess, but the way I think I believe it works didn’t feel intuitive to me. I guess with enough practice I would get a feel for how to search thoroughly, but it felt like a chore trying to find what I wanted (which really was to see how I measure up to similar properties in price, appearance, availability, etc.).
I also felt really frustrated because I could not figure out a way to sort the results how I WANT (initially by cost) . Am I missing the obvious (be nice )?
No you can’t sort by cost or anything else. You can only apply filters. At least they have a filter for cost. They don’t have one for star rating which is the one I want. I can’t even imagine the complaints from hosts if there were a precise star rating filter. Thank dog there is at least Superhost.
I always use the map when I search and listings popping up and disappearing as you click on the map is indeed perplexing. I’m assuming that it’s because there are so many hosts in cities that they can’t possibly fit all of them on the map. Whatever is on the map is what is on the list. Do you get a different result if you don’t use the map and only have the list?
By the way I’ve been searching for Airbnbs in Austin (Hyde Park to SoCo and Lamar to close in East Austin and the website has been glitchy all day. The app has been working fine. So if someone likes to search on their computer, there’s another barrier.
So on the website at this moment I am only able to figure out how to do a split (list and map) or map only. Hmmmm…
I don’t even have words, although “Control Freak” and “Dictator” come to mind. I still haven’t figured out how they decide what constitutes a “rare find” either.
Or my favorite, the corp listings that get the dumb extra long titles and “rare find” tags when the listing is brand new.
How is it a “rare find” when it just came on the scene and the calendar is wide open??? We all know a wide open calendar is NOT a rare find at the moment, at least for some of us poor souls
I believe the not having more filters is motivated by the same thing that motivates the strange search result. They want to spread the wealth.
I also want a “pets on premises” filter because when I book a home share, pets on the property is a plus. LOL. But others should be able to filter to avoid those homes.
Hmmm. Maybe I’ll “get it” after I ponder more. For now my simple mind thinks they should just make it easy for the guest to find exactly what they are looking for OR, IF the guest wants, show the guest spaces they may have never considered (i.e, categories like OMG!, etc.).
I am struggling to understand why the two have to conflict and result in a drop in biz for so many (playing my little violin/beating the dead horse…again). Maybe a bunch of other listings are now booming, but in that case that’s just a swap, not a spread.
Right. That’s what I want to know. Is Airbnb losing bookings or moving bookings. Just because people post here that they haven’t have a booking or inquiry since the changes doesn’t mean no one has. If they are losing bookings it seems like they would have noticed quickly and moved back on the changes.
Why do they want to spread the wealth? So they can treat hosts like crap and not worry about it because they have plenty? So they can brag about how many hosts they have?
100%. I think finding the perfect Airbnb is a lot of work.
that’s such an interesting observation. Our dogs are a big hit with guests, so many mention how keen they are to meet the dogs. and likewise, i’d love non-animal lovers to avoid us too.
Or how about the corporate listings with 3.5 star ratings and tons of written reviews saying the place was dirty, the furnishings needed to be replaced, and the management was unresponsive, yet the place pops up on page one when searching?
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