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So I just crossed out dedicated workspace from my amenities, which was the feature the algorithm picked out to highlight at the top of my listing, even though there is a built-in countertop and chair in the guest room, where my guests set up their laptops or write, because I don’t cater to digital nomads and my wifi is not necessarily reliable or as high speed as guests might be used to.
So now what the algorithm highlighted at the top of my listing is Free Parking, when only 3 of my guests have ever come here with a car- they almost all fly in and take the bus from the airport.
ARGGGGGGH!!!
It’s unconscionable that an algorithm is given the power to market things about our listings which we know are not important to the majority of guests who are attracted to or a good fit for our listings.
I have a lakefront property in an area that is pretty much all Lakefront rentals. When you click the lake front tab no property within 50 miles shows up. So tech support says this is just for outstanding property. But when a renter clicks that Tab and thinks they will see all lakefront properties, and they don’t see any, of course they will think there are none available. They don’t know that it is only a select few properties. So they will decide they can’t rent or move to another platform to search for a lakefront property. Airbnb is forcing me to move to those other platforms so renters will see my lakefront property. The algorithm is a failure. My own property has amazing views and a 4.9 rating with a superhost. But it and dozens more disappear from the search when you do the obvious thing and select lakefront. I’m now searching for other platforms and classifieds to put my lakefront property in so that renters will actually see it
@Wprsly
This new rollout is a huge international problem. Air has put themselves into a corner over this and will make one excuse after another as to why this works and that doesn’t work.
The logical thing for Air to do is to withdraw this crap rollout to stop causing hosts major anxiety in not getting bookings. This, of course, will never happen.
Welcome to the new Airbnb, not host or guest friendly but it sure did cause a big splash in presentation.
Lots of hosts will be bailing from the platform, but never fear, there is an endless supply of naive new ones.
Airbnb needs to hear both the problems and solutions. Please comment int he Community Center, tweet, and comment on Facebook. See my post here on what I did Tweets - can we influence Airbnb? Will it do any good? Who knows - but we have seen other not so good ideas go quietly away.
Think if Air saw the hundreds of negative comments on the Community forum they might have a small clue as to how this is not going to work out for anyone.
Still can’t find my duplex when I do a private search.
I have just jiggled the listing description to see if that makes it appear.
Views have plummeted!
Thank goodness for direct bookings.
I am ok until the end of June and then there is nothing but an empty calendar.
I feel like my historic homes are being pushed into a box that they just can’t fit into.
I don’t seem to be in any categories. I can find my listing on a blind search with dates, not touching categories, and it is as usual in appearance and wording.
HOWEVER we have had zero bookings since this was rolled out! AND my listing type is (I think) right in the realm of which they desire to feature<><>…
THE BOTTOM LINE is going to eventually bite Airbnbn in the a$$ so hopefully it won’t take forever to fix this.
I have jumped on the Outdoorsy train and am considering Vrbooo and BOOKIII,com. Any advice on those new 2 me venues? Thanks!
Why did they change the category that included RV to just Camping? If there are really so many Castles, Tipis, Shamizens and Caves, WHY can’t there be a category for Glamping, Vintage trailers, Airstreeeams and/ or Spartans??
Because guests are totally confused as to how to book now, or do a regular search, since this category mess is thrown in their face first thing.
I find it hard to believe Airbnb isn’t seeing a huge drop in bookings and paying attention to it. They aren’t just frustrating and losing hosts, they are losing guests, so as you say, hopefully they will realize the error of this new presentation and do something about it soon.
Let’s just hope they are getting plenty of negative feedback from guests, and seeing a big drop in overall bookings, since whether hosts are happy with what category they’ve been placed under, or upset that their cover photo had been changed wouldn’t be anything Airbnb would care about.
I love VRBO. It’s been good to me. DISCLAIMER: their CS is just as useless as AirBNBs BUT the damage deposit is real & I’ve rarely had to call them.
They don’t allow you to set a stay limit but I have it in my rules (max 10 days w/o host approval) and “contract”. With my booking pace between Air and VRBO it’s not been an issue (someone booking for a longer time than I want).
I also like their cancellation policy options better.
I’m only on AirBnB because (1) the volume of users they attract (2) the commission is less than VRBO but my prices are slightly higher there to compensate and (3) I couldn’t legit be in this awesome forum otherwise .
So well put, yet sadly true. I’m surprised to see that the algorithm/HAL has not tweaked my listing yet, but am realistically waiting for the other foot to fall.
I’m currently unlisted so I have no idea what this will do to my listing. I suspect nothing because I’m not a vacation destination, don’t have a view, beach, pool or anything special for that matter.
The view of the Grand Pitons is considered one of the premium views of the Caribbean. When jade mountain shows their ad ( which is well known) they show the view… not the pool the 2 gorgeous models are relaxing in. This is truly a home with an amazing view !
@muddy I am so with you on this whole new algorithm taking over our listings. I literally search for a listing as if I am a Guest looking for an Airbnb in my area and instead of my listing in my city, I am being directed to listings over 30 miles from my listing, even though I specifically state I am looking for a listing in my city. How does that makes sense? On top of that, I am now like on the 10th. page of listings, where I used to always pop up on the top 10 listings in my area. I also see that Guests cannot filter listings based on Superhosts anymore. Maybe I’m not tech savvy enough to figure that one out. It’s just horrible
What I’m saying is that it isn’t clear enough that guests should not choose themes if they are not flexible.
And it isn’t true that only homes in Sayulita show up when using a normal search for Sayulita. It is full of listings for Puerto Vallarta, and a lot of other towns between here and there, as well as other towns north of here. (the normal search has always been faulty like this) And no one who wants to stay in Sayulita is interested in PV listings, or vice versa.
Many hosts have always had this issue of their town being lumped in with other areas.
Also a guest who came from Europe a couple years ago told me she had to keep upping her price range before my place showed up and it only was visible on the 5th price range change, to double what I charge. So Airbnb search rankings have always been algorithmed to present guests with what Airbnb would prefer they book.
@JJD Thank you. Obviously some of us are more tech-savvy than others, that’s for sure. Anyway, I cannot see the filters that you have above on my phone, but I do see them from the computer, so maybe it’s different. Will have to ask my son to show me when I get home.
As far as my listing goes, I am not “clicking” on any theme at all, and when I zoom in on my area, my listing is now non-existent (trust me, I used to do this all the time and my listing was right there). Again, this has all been since the new algorithms kicked in. I’ve even tried to search by price points ranges, and my listing still does not show up.
AND my listing type is (I think) right in the realm of which they desire to feature<><>… 
.