Not coming up in search - help, please?

3

Thanks, Kona (I’ve been reading your replies here for months, was hoping you’d reply!).

I’m using Wheelhouse for dynamic pricing, set to Conservative (lower pricing). I’ve changed my listing, including prices, every day (sometimes several times a day, as I’m adding pictures, tweaking the wording, etc.). I’m wondering if it’s because I don’t have many reviews? The awful thing is my next guest isn’t scheduled to arrive until Friday, and won’t be leaving until Monday, so I won’t be getting another review (IF I get one) for at least another five days.

Is this typical to have things plummet so quickly?

1 Like
4

Just not sure about your area. It is typical for Kona to plummet in summer even without a :volcano:… so I am not sure about coastal Maine!! Seems like this is your high season.

Could you book a friend in at the $10 minimum to get another review?

1 Like
5

Yes, it is absolutely the high season, which is why I’m so distraught. We should be able to get 50% or more of our annual income goal from July 4 to Labor Day, even with highly competitive prices.

And I suggested the review strategy to my husband, but he is opposed - doesn’t want to risk being suspended by Airbnb (he’s a software developer, and thinks that ABB could figure that out somehow).

6

Why don’t you post a link to your place and we can see if we can offer some advice?

7

I’ve also listed on Homeaway, and am looking into other channels as well.

8

The forum didn’t allow me to post a link.

9

Ah I think that’s if you are new to stop people just joining to post spammy links :slight_smile:

10

Go to progress and see how many views you have over the last 30 days. This will help you see if people are looking at your listing. Also update your calendar. It doesn’t much matter what you change it seems to give the listing a boost. Are you on IB? I usually don’t recommend it to new hosts but Airbnb loves IB. You can set parameters for who you accept on IB.

11

389 views (is that different IP addresses? Because I’m fairly certain that I’ve looked at it at least 150 times, LOL ). 1.8% booking rate, down from 3.8% a few days ago. My calendar is updated daily as well.

I turned on IB out of desperation about a week ago. Also, I sent an email to AirBnB (also out of desperation) explaining the situation. A customer support specialist named Monica replied back, asking me for the coordinates for my listings. I had given her the same number that I posted above, I don’t know what other coordinates are that she’s talking about.

12

The only thing I imagine she means is the coordinates from Google maps. Find your property on Google maps and make sure it’s marked with a pin. The coordinates are a series of numbers on the URL. (Or call back and ask :slight_smile: )

1 Like
13

Call? I don’t think that’s possible…(kidding, I know the numbers are posted here somewhere…)

14

Right here :slight_smile:

15

Thanks. Wouldn’t you know when I was going online to email them, I came across something that said click here to email and another button to call. Really wish I had grab that phone number while I was at it…:slightly_smiling_face:

Also, I put my listing on Homeaway this morning, already getting inquiries from that, so I’m feeling slightly more hopeful.

1 Like
17

Food for thought. Only one review because your listing is new. Maybe change your wording to invite guests to be among the first to rent your newly listed home will help your number of bookings. (Won’t help it display but if they see it it may encourage them to book)

18

Well, I just got a reply a few moments ago asking me for the GPS coordinates (that I submitted 13 hours ago), along with the property address (which i have in the listing):

“I understand that you need to make an update to your listing’s address. I’m able to help process a one-time, permanent change to your address. Please reply to this message with confirmation of the following information:

  1. Latitude and longitude GPS coordinates (please copy the decimal form and not the degrees/minutes/seconds).
  2. Apartment or house number
  3. Street name
  4. City
  5. State, province or region
  6. Postal code
  7. Country

Best regards,
Monica”

I don’t believe for a moment that this is the problem, as I am able to find the listing when I drill down on the map. But of course now I’m concerned that my five currently booked guests might think they have booked someplace else…?

I guess I have no other option but to wait and see if anything changes. In the meantime, I had three inquiries on Homeaway today, one of which I had to turn down because I had not blocked a weekend that was already booked on Airbnb.

(Yes, tomorrow - ack, today, it’s 4am here - will get calendar management software up and running…)

19

If they can’t see it, it doesn’t matter what my wording says. :wink:

Now Monica has replied asking me to clear cache and cookies, and search for it again. Which I did, and, nope, still can’t find it, even when I filter down to 26 homes (using IB, 4 guests, entire place, self-check in, free parking, 2bd/1ba, apartment).

20

It’s weird - I can’t find it by filtering (regardless of the criteria I’m using), only by zooming way, way in on the map.

21

@CeeBee. I thought you had two issues

  1. Views but no bookings
  2. Maybe it wasn’t displaying to to everyone.

Lack of reviews can be off-putting unless the guests realize the listing is new.

23

Mystery (finally) solved, but not without a few detours. Turned out to be a mapping error situation which several hosts in my area have reported.

The detour: I previously had “free parking on street” selected, but not “free parking on premises”, and apparently the former doesn’t qualify as “free parking” in the search filter. Ok, that one is on me. I have off street parking in back of the building for my long-term tenants (it’s not nearly as convenient as parking on the street in front of the house, but whatever…), and there is always street parking available (except in winter, when it snows and cars have to be moved for plowing), so I’ve turned on “free parking on premises” and will paint a couple stripes and put up a “Reserved” sign in front of one space and call it good. :smile:

Changing that didn’t fix the problem, however, at least not right away. Three hours after I made that change, I received an email from Monica, telling me that she was looking at my listing. So I opened up my laptop, cleared everything, opened a new browser window, put in Portland, Maine, no dates, property type=apartment, entire place, and self check-in… and, voilà! It was showing again. Not on the first page, but IT WAS VISIBLE AGAIN. :heart_eyes:

I was having breakfast with my husband a few hours after that when I received a call (yes, an actual phone call!) from Airbnb. I don’t recall his name, but the man spoke with an Indian accent. He wanted to advise me that this was apparently a problem that a number of hosts in my area have reported, and that they were entering the latitude/longitude coordinates for those properties and that he wanted me to know they were being responsive to their hosts, etc. etc. He started giving me a big schpiel about why my listing wasn’t showing on the front page (That it had dropped in the search rankings following the initial new listing bump, etc.), but I cut him off and said I was just happy that it was showing up again, after 11 days in the dark.

I did also let him know I had received four inquiries via homeaway.com in less than 24 hours, which is more than I had received on any single day while the listing was actually showing on Airbnb. (So I know the property itself is attractive).

And, yes, Helsi, the artwork has gone up this morning, and the planters were filled before my first guest arrived, so I’m snapping new pictures after I finish re-caulking the bathroom and will put them up on the listing tonight when I get home. Unless I pass out first…

Thank you all for helping me through this frustrating time!

3 Likes
24

New photos up on listing tonight. I ordered pillow covers and nightstands but they didn’t arrive in time for me to take pictures today. Baby steps…

And I’m showing up on the first page when I toss in IB/self check-in/entire place filters + 4 guests - even without specifying dates. Currently booked through the 29th with only one night open, yay!

1 Like