Guidance needed on dramatic drop in views

I don’t think it’s possible. Airbnb algorithms determine that.

I live in a small, but super popular little tourist town an hour from Puerto Vallarta. Airbnb lumps Puerto Vallarta listings in when doing a search for my town, even though no one looking to stay in my town would book a place in PV, or vice versa.

my average guest stays 10-plus days; their decision to visit FL is unlikely to be made on political stance as they are coming to visit close family members, undergo medical/cosmetic procedures, participate of sports events, or are property shopping for an upcoming move to South Florida.
I know some people believe that politics is paramount on people’s mind, but I can assure you that it’s hardly the case as far as my business is concerned. Not to say that there are no tourists who avoid FL because of politics, all I’m saying is that my typical guest could not care less about politics just as they don’t care that my listing is not across the beach (although I’m across the water where lots of yatch and sailing clubs and marinas are located).

@muddy, thank you. I was hoping I could narrow my location to its own zip code instead of 3-4 zip coes.


Please see the dramatic difference in views of two different listings in the same building. How to explain such dichotomy?

I agree that guests coming to visit family, undergo medical procedures or participate in a sporting event are not going to be influenced by politics, and that if those are the type of guests you mostly get, politics wouldn’t come into play when looking at a drop in bookings.

Deciding to purchase a home definitely is going to be influenced by politics, though, and it’s a fact, not my opinion, that several organizations have cancelled their conventions in Florida due to politics. Regardless of one’s personal politics, the economic impact is documented.

“As of July 26, Ritter said that Visit Lauderdale has tallied 10 events and conventions that were canceled by organizations citing recently enacted laws, policies and travel advisories. That amounts to 15,000 lost hotel room nights and an estimated $20 million economic impact, she said.”

How did you find out which place your listing is on search? When I try to search Airbnb stay in my area, my listing always shows up number. I thought it was because I was searching and the system knew it was me so my place always stayed on top??

@Amy_nyma Amy, I do not understand your question - what do you mean? I look in “insights”, “performance”, “conversion”, “views”.

Amy is asking about search placement-seeing how far down the pages her listing appears. The stats you mention don’t tell you that.

@Amy_nyma You have to do a search on the site using Incognito mode to see it as a guest sees it. You can’t search while logged into your account.

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Hi, MissMiami, Deb said she can find which place her listing is on search results. But I think it’s not reliable. I asked my friend to do an Airbnb search in my area, my place was not on the top like when I searched.

Thanks so much, muddy! :two_hearts:

Yes….they like to flatter a host when you search your area logged into your account……more BS from Airbnb!

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Another thing to be aware of is that search placement isn’t something stagnant- it changes all the time and where it appears is also dependent on the filters a guest checks off.

One of my guests told me she searched about 5 times, upping the price maximum each time, before my listing even appeared. And she had upped it to twice what I charge, so Airbnb obviously tries to get guests to book more expensive properties.

Other guests who input 1 guest, homeshare, private bathroom, said my listing came up first.

There are so many variables in which listings pop up first, and with it being based on non-transparent algorithms, that unless a host just isn’t getting views or bookings, checking one’s search ranking for anything but curiosity’s sake, seems like a waste of time.

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I don’t know if you all have the same feeling because winter is coming. I can clearly feel the slowness here in my area. I almost don’t get anything from VRBO. I am a 5/5 Premium host but have only 7 bookings over a year… VRBO has this boost points thing, but without reservation, I don’t have points, without points I cannot boost my listing… So frustrating! :smiling_face_with_tear:

I do a search for all listings in my area. I live in a rural area so I don’t have to be very specific because there aren’t so many listings. Before I had categories removed my place wouldn’t show up until more than 10 pages in search results even if I made the search more specific by specifying a larger number of guests. My place was coming up after listings far outside of my rural area. Prior to categories and post categories my place comes up on the first page. I didn’t use incognito search when I did the testing. Other people were also telling me that my place was not to be found at all on airbnb when categories were applied. I don’t know if it’s significant but my place is different from most in my area. Most are cottages/cabins on lakes. I am on a farm with a big pool. I wondered if somehow the system was expecting searchers to be most interested in cabins and leading people in that direction somehow?

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Now I am thinking if I should call Airbnb support to remove my categories even thought I don’t know if I have a category. I don’t see it anywhere on my list. I checked the bottom of my listing, didn’t see anything…

Is there no safe place where politics is not improperly inserted into a discussion? SMH

“Improperly” is your opinion. If guests feel “unsafe” or unwelcome travelling to certain areas, then it’s quite appropriate to discuss that.

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I agree with you. This isn’t about politics in Florida. Definitely look for other possible reasons. If this were about people not agreeing with Florida politics, it would be offset by the right wing who believe and champion their causes. In both cases, IMHO, it would only be the small percentage of radicals … not enough to cause the decline you are experiencing.

So what reason for huge drop from 100+ to 20 views a day ? Very precipitous fall right around mid April? Was that when the categories debutted?//

The “categories” were introduced in May 2022. At which point many hosts saw their views and bookings instantly plummet or dry up completely.

Aside from that update having an immediately relatable impact on many hosts, since a computer algorithm is in charge of search placement and categories, it seems impossible to try to determine why a listing’s views suddenly drop, unless there is suddenly a lot more competition in one’s area or some natural disaster, extreme weather conditions, or political upheaval that keeps guests from considering listings in a certain area.

We also don’t know what the algorithm does as far as what it shows to various guests. In other words, there may be nothing a host can do on their end, because maybe Airbnb has fiddled with the search bot to, for instance, not show one’s listing to guests whose IP address locates them within 100 miles of your listing.

I know the algorithm will, if a host uses some form of smart pricing, show one price to hubby, who has booked Airbnbs in a certain price range before, and a different price to his wife, sitting next to him at the table on her own device, who has never booked an Airbnb before. I’ve read several guest posts over the years questioning this. The algorithms obviously identify who would be likely to pay more, based on their past booking histories.

So for all we know, the algorithm might suddenly be tweaked to “think” that new users won’t be likely to book a place in a certain price range, following some sort of data gathering by Airbnb, and stops showing your listing to all new users, plummeting the views.

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