I like the new ABB categories and the Air Cover for Guests

[JJD]

@muddy

When I zoomed in on the map to Sayulita, when looking under Home Shares,

Because you chose a theme, “Home Shares”. But if you just zoom into Sayulita without choosing any of the themes then you will only see homes in Sayulita. If you only want to see private rooms (i.e. home shares) then filter for private rooms in the regular filter menu.

The whole point of those theme choices is flexibility. And flexibility means that Guadalajara is as good a choice as Sayulita for your needs as long as it is a shared home. If you are not flexible and really need Sayulita then don’t choose a theme, just zoom in on Sayulita and use the regular filters for other needs (like a private room vs an entire place or a superhost, etc).

[muddy]

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.

[soflohost]

@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.

[KKC]

@JJD

“Doggie Delight” or something theme, for places that are especially good for dogs. I bet our big backyard would be put in the first photo position.

That would be great. I don’t even know if the new way the pet filter is presented will have an effect yet.

[JJD]

@muddy

What I’m saying is that it isn’t clear enough that guests should not choose themes if they are not flexible.

It was literally released as an additional search option for flexible travel. And the place to put your destination and dates is exactly the same, right above in the middle as before. I am not sure why people are saying they’ve had difficulty with it. Clearly, most of those themes are not normal choices when traveling.

@muddy

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.

Are you zooming in? I can zoom in so that only one listing shows, basically down to the street level. Down to the block. If you only put in Sayulita then it will give you a zoomed out area that includes Sayulita and the surrounding areas. That’s not new. But you can zoom in on the map all the way down to a certain block if you want. I just looked again and have nothing in Sayulita that is not in Sayulita but I have zoomed in so that Puerto Vallarta is not even in my map view.

@muddy

So Airbnb search rankings have always been algorithmed to present guests with what Airbnb would prefer they book.

What I notice is that Airbnb shows me stuff that is similar to stuff I’ve booked before. I saw a discussion about the split-stays where the two places were not near each other. However, I had a couple of those when I searched, while logged into my account, and they made sense to me. For instance, I have often traveled to Cape Cod because my partner is from there and also to the Hamptons because I used to live in NY and I like to vacation there. One of the split-trips that Airbnb showed me was for 5 days on Cape Cod and 5 days in Southhampton, NY which may seem odd except that I’ve traveled to both before. And, it’s an oddly good idea because there are ferries that connect.

[KKC]

@soflohost

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.

This is not new, there are old threads here complaining about the same problem. And Airbnb used to have Juarez, MX listings thrown in with El Paso listings. I’ve also had someone book my place who wanted to be in Las Cruces NM (50 miles from me) and then had to cancel. A savvy guest knows you absolutely have to use the map unless you truly don’t care where you stay. I’m not saying it’s okay, I’m just saying it’s not new.

[JJD]

@KKC

I don’t even know if the new way the pet filter is presented will have an effect yet.

That has been the greatest effect on my listing ever. But that happened about a year ago, I think. There was a dead stop to my bookings at first because no one could figure out where to filter for pet friendly, but it seems to have worked itself out now.

@soflohost

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.

They are the same on the app (on your phone). That photo I posted is from the app on my phone but they look the same on the website too. They look the same as they have for a very long time. There is the little filter symbol (circled for you) and when you click on it, you can scroll through the filters:

That takes you to the other photo I posted, for the filters. There are a lot of filters, you scroll through them.

@soflohost

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)

Have you changed your booking requirements since the last time you searched as a guest? Do you require positive reviews or govt ID to instant book perhaps? Because if you are searching as a guest, so not logged-in to your account, Airbnb cannot know if you have positive reviews from a host or a govt ID so will not show you the listings that require them (even if it is your listing because it doesn’t know it is you).

If you want to send me a message, I’d be happy to search for you and see if it comes up (I fit all of the instant book requirements). It’s very likely you’re not getting a true search. But you want to find out in case your listing really isn’t showing for some reason.

[muddy]

@JJD You are a seasoned host and guest who knows exactly how to find what you are looking for, and in that sense not representative of the majority of guests trying to find and book a place.

It would make sense that a guest would have to zoom in on the map if they were looking for a place in Sayulita in a specific area of town- right on the beach, a bit outside of town, up on the ritzy north end. But it doesn’t make sense, nor is it intuitive to most people, that they should have to zoom in on the map to get only Sayulita listings if they input Sayulita in their search filter.

[JJD]

@KKC

A savvy guest knows you absolutely have to use the map unless you truly don’t care where you stay. I’m not saying it’s okay, I’m just saying it’s not new.

Oh, it didn’t even occur to me that it was because the map wasn’t being used. (And I suppose there was a real lack of reading as well, lol).

I have heard a few times in the past that there was a bug or glitch or something that put someone’s listing in the wrong town. Maybe that’s a tag-along bug with this new release. Though I have been searching different listings this afternoon and have not found that, as long as I zoom in on the map to the city/town level.

We had some guests once that booked our city when they really wanted to be in a beach town 2 hours away because, as they explained it, “they start with the same couple of letters”.

[JJD]

@muddy

But it doesn’t make sense, nor is it intuitive to most people, that they should have to zoom in on the map to get only Sayulita listings if they input Sayulita in their search filter.

The map has worked like that since I started using Airbnb in 2012. It is not new. It is not even unique to how maps and accommodations work (hotels have the same kinds of maps) or maps and hair salons, maps and pet stores, maps and podiatrists, etc, etc. If you input Sayulita in a search bar and the map shows you 1/5 of Mexico then you obviously need to zoom in to your destination. The way the map works has not stopped millions of hosts from running successful Airbnbs nor millions of guests finding the right place to stay. Why is this even coming up in the discussion?

It’s harder to spell Sayulita than it is to find an Airbnb there.

[soflohost]

@JJD You have given me some great insight. I will definitely send you a message to see what you come up with if you are trying to book in my city

As far as the other suggestions, I figured out that it might just be my phone. My son works for Apple so I am going to have him look at it tonight. No matter how much I try to open my screen, I cannot see the right side of that section to get to the filters. I have an iPhone 12 mini, so not sure. My son laughs all the time when we discuss using features on my iPhone and he has complimented me on being a very savvy senior citizen compared with the customers he deals with at Apple, which is why I believe it has something to do with my phone (screen size).

The thing that worries me is that a lot of people use their phones to book Airbnb’s. Again, hopefully, it’s just something with my settings. Thank you again for all your input.

[soflohost]

@KKC Thank you for that insight. I think you have a point about Guests who want a specific area using the map, and what @JJD pointed out makes absolute sense that my listing wouldn’t come up for people that don’t meet my requirements. I just recently changed it to “instant booking” because bookings were down, but I think I am going to put it back to the way it was because I was getting a lot more inquiries

[JJD]

@soflohost

I have an iPhone 12 mini

I didn’t realize there was such a thing. I always get the one with the largest screen because of my slowly deteriorating eyes. I suppose it could be the screen size, though that seems so unfortunate. But it’s good that you have an expert there that will help you with it. It may be poor design though, ugh.

@soflohost

being a very savvy senior citizen compared with the customers he deals with at Apple

Maybe it’s because of where I grew up or something but I associate your generation with actually building all of the computers (because it did), there’s no reason I’d think that today’s seniors aren’t savvy. My godfather is still running a department at Texas Instruments! And one of my fondest memories is playing with the multiple TRS-80s in his garage when I was a mere 7.

(also, the message you sent is blank, just didn’t want you to think I didn’t respond)

[Wprsly]

But the theme
Lakefront
IS a very normal thing to pick when looking for waterfront.
Of course many travelers will think of that as a shortcut to find a waterfront rental!
But there is no explanation that the very limited results are just a fraction of the available waterfront rentals. Why would the renter start diving into filters to work around the offered shortcut?
Surely most will not.

[soflohost]

@JJD I don’t know what happened. I thought I sent you the direct message. I was able to make some changes based on what you recommended–thank you. I did get two bookings so I think it made a difference for sure. I am thankful for any booking right now

[Oakrentals]

I am new to this forum but joined to be part of the discussion on the summer 2022 release. I’m a new Airbnb host, only one month in, so pardon my ignorance if I’m missing something obvious. It no longer appears that titles present on the listings in the search results view unless you click on an individual property. Every property presents as ‘home in city x’ or ‘ Condo In city X’ etc and therefore cannot be meaningfully differentiated from one another. I cannot imagine titles are not extremely important here as they are with traditional search engine as well as job search engines. Now the only thing to differentiate properties before you click on them is the first photo. I’m not seeing any dialogue about the loss of titles. Am I missing something obvious? Is this a concern for others? I have provided my feedback on Airbnb‘s - ‘share your feedback about Airbnb’ page under their help section. I’d post the link but am not permitted.

[Tina_Wareham]

My very much lakefront property doesn’t show up in the “lakefront” search results no matter what I do - I’ve clicked and unclicked and reclicked the appropriate amenities, added “lakefront” to my description, changed the profile pic to show the water, and the location ON X LAKE has always been part of the title. I’ve contacted superhost support and no one can help me. Meanwhile, properties I know to NOT be “lakefront” show up…you guessed it, in the LAKEFRONT results!! SO LAME!!!

[muddy]

Of course CS can’t help you. What did you expect them to say or do? This is a programming disaster, there is nothing customer service can do.

The only excitement about this “exciting new update” began and ended in the building where Chesky and his crew hatched out and implemented it.

It isn’t working for hosts.

It isn’t working for guests.

The artificial intelligence has an IQ of 50.

Host’s views have plummeted, their bookings have dried up.

Guests can’t figure out how to book, they are giving up and going to other platforms.

Brian Chesky apparently thinks his clientele is looking for $10,000/night 12 bedroom castles on a clifftop in Outer Mongolia. And they are totally flexible as to when they can travel. Anytime is fine! They don’t actually work, they’re trust fund babies and instagram influencers. Or dot com billionaires. And of course there are so many of them that it’s going to make up for the millions of listings that aren’t getting booked, and all the guests who just want a clean, comfortable place to stay, in a specific place, on specific dates.

This wasn’t an update, it was a complete overhaul of the platform.

Airbnb could fix this hot mess in an hour and still save face.
Return the main page back to what it was.
Have an option for guests to call up a new page to peruse the categories, if that’s what turns their crank.

Everyone’s freaked out that they aren’t appearing in the correct or any category. Did we care about this 3 weeks ago? Of course not, because everything worked fine. Guests understood how to book, how to find the places that were suitable, hosts got views and bookings.

I hope Mr. Chesky is enjoying his year-long trip around the world with his dog. Maybe he’ll trip and fall off the balcony of the clifftop mansion and someone sane will take over.

[gillian]

@Oakrentals

Am I missing something obvious?

HI there, welcome!
nope, you aren’t missing anything, they have messed with the search, and it’s not pretty.

[mollimac]

OMG, Muddy! You’ve hit it on the head once again😂 Thanks for helping us smile through this all too horrible conundrum!