I noticed looking through the new search page that not only doesn’t mine mention the “Amazing View” but says it is “Ski In Ski Out” when it hasn’t snowed here since the last Ice Age. But wait, there’s more. There’s no longer the price range coming up but it has a sample 1 week stay with a price (helpfully showing it is reduced). 80% of my guests stay for the weekend for 2 nights and the rest for 2-3 nights during the week. So a 1 week stay is not usual at all. Also I wonder if potential guests will think this is the next date it is available? In July!
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Remember the short-lived “Home Highlights” the algorithm pasted on the tops of our listings? One host said hers highlighted, “This is one of the few homes in the area with a fireplace”.
It was July, in San Antonio, Texas.
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I brought this up in another thread, but I just had a guest ask me how far I was from the Martha’s VIneyard Airport and quaint little shops on that island. I am in western Massachusetts, a couple hours drive and a ferry ride from the island. She said my place popped up when she put in Martha’s Vineyard. Thankfully she didn’t instant book.
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A while ago we were asked about things to do while in Seattle. We are 3.5 hours away with a mountain range and lots of desert in-between!
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I just checked my listing last night and not only does it NOT show up AT ALL, the search results show 10-20 miles south of me, east of me. Not me.
All photos that other hosts had up have been changed to photos of the bed and bedroom. NONE highlight our water/canal/golf course views they had up before.
I think ABB is trying to “level the playing field” by only showing bedrooms for shared listings (note that the particular search field brings up all listings anyway).
I’ve delisted for the time being while I think about what to do next. There’s a new company called WorkBnB that is in beta in Orlando. Teaming with companies in construction and tech for WFH or work remotely employees and contractors.
In the meantime, I may go with FurnishedFinder as you can put in minimum of a week and maximum of 3 months.
Otherwise, I’ll just close. And miss the money… but ABB is out of control.
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Probably. People expect some sort of logic when they are presented with options. But it appears completely random - I tried our area twice in a row and was presented with different dates.
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Deciding that people are free to randomly travel to ‘surprise’ places and are ok to be arbitrary about dates is what happens when a bigwig in a company decides that HIS personal situation mirrors everyone else’s. No, Mr. Chesky, my guests need specifics about date and location to book me, and they will not be ok to find me as a random place and time - my guests are here for family events, work schedules, and concert events; no, they are not ‘flexible’.
And no, Mr. Chesky, you cannot slot my airbnb into a cute category based on what my guests talk about - I have HUNDREDS of 5 star reviews saying how they love the place and will stay again, without mentioning any ‘special’ things.
Currently, I am awaiting a fix of a glitch on one of my airbnbs (I have 3 rooms in my house, separate) that will not allow me to change my base price. Fix that first, please, not interested in random millennials traveling to my town to ‘explore’.
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The new emphasis on the glamor, high dollar exotic dwellings, why would this be?
Just my opinion, but wondering if the head honcho thinks the expensive dwellings will cause Air to get less bad publicity, making more for the company and getting rid of a lot of the pesky salt of the earth types that are no longer up to his standards.
I really do think they’re trying to push hosts from the site.
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Maybe the algorithm is looking for less booked dates in the area in the aggregate and trying to fill vacancies to maximize revenue.
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I’ve delisted until the dust settles and am paying the $99 for Furnished Finder. With a lease.
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Looked at their site a little. The long stays just wouldn’t work for me, with the rental not having a real kitchen.
I keep looking at other sites but nothing seems like it would work in that no one else uses the site in my town. A few on VRBO, but Air seems to rule.
I have a sense of doom about where Air is headed. If they really cared about their hosts, they wouldn’t spring a major, not workable change on everyone without it being tested. They don’t care how many they drive away, there’s an endless supply.
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If you’re using the mobile app, try the web site from a computer.
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I don’t- the more listings of every type they have, the more likely to have guests of every type book. It’s more like what you said in your next post- they just don’t care if hosts bow out because there is an endless supply of new hosts signing up. For now.
So even if their thrust now is encouraging digital nomads and highlighting listings they would be attracted to, and creating the stupid category search, there will still be private room home share hosts, they are assuming, for the guests who are looking for that.
If all the home share hosts gave up in disgust and left the platform, and guests started complaining that they couldn’t find an affordable, or any, private room listing, we’d probably see some new promo to try to lure in hosts to offer home-shares and they’d play up home-shares in their marketing.
Airbnb wants all the str market, in every category, I’m quite sure.
They used to have a small handful of categories that made sense. Business, Family, I can’t remember the others. There were certain, mostly logical requirements for each category that a host had to meet to be shown in each. For instance the Family listings had to be kid-safe, have baby gates, outlet covers, secure cabinets that children couldn’t get into and drink the Drano, provide toys, cribs, high chairs, etc.
That categorization worked for both hosts and guests as it led to a good fit and made it easier for guests to find something that worked for their needs.
This new clown show designed for guests who are free to roam anywhere on earth is a whole different ballgame. I predict that it is going to lead to hosts seeing a big uptick in inquiries from “influencers”, youtubers, etc, asking for a free stay in exchange for promoting you on their blog or Instagram or Tiktok, because those are the people with no home base and no particular destination that these new categories were designed for.
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Mine highlighted that we’re one of the few homes that has a jacuzzi. Nearly everyone does.
I’ve had some of those. They are so annoying. Takes awhile for you to read their introduction about how popular they are before you get to the part of when they want to stay - and then realize that they want you to provide lodging to them and a few of their friends for free. No thanks.
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You can do as little as 7 days. You don’t need a full kitchen in the rental. A microwave and coffee pot could work.
I’m a home share host and I’m wildly unhappy with what ABB is doing.
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Hosts of all types of listings reporting their views dropping to almost nothing and their bookings suddenly stopped dead after this “exciting new update”.
I suspect both newbie and seasoned guests are looking on other platforms when faced with the clutter and confusion of the new interface.
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I got three booking enquiries from the free govt DogsOnHoliday tourism website for my state in 12 hours, usually get 1 a fortnight if that. Makes me think more people are seeing my place on Airbnb but doing the obvious thing of googling the name and finding my direct contact details so neither of us has to pay their fees. I pay a flat fee of $100AUD a year for my listing and it is worth every cent.
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Our listing location recently changed suddenly from Mystic, CT to Block Island, RI. Had to have Airbnb fix to our correct location but in the process lost showing up where our yacht is actually docked. It looks like it’s in the parking lot now!
Please let me, your new [wannabe] best friend, fix this for you.
I can go to Mystic for you, habitate the yacht, document all this habitation to demonstrate where it really is. If I can demonstrate for, say, a continuous 30 days that it is not in Block Island I think we can have the documentation you need for Airbnb that you are in Mystic. If not, I am game for another 30 days.
What are friends for?
[P.S. Let’s talk separately about how it’s stocked, fuel, details. I’ll need a full crew to make this credible.]
I probably shouldn’t joke like this but someone else on the site put me up to it and I got befuddled into it!
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