2022 category

[Kari27]

ok so I guess I am just not getting it but, I can't find a "select category" button on my Airbnb page for my listing. Can someone give me step by step instructions? Sorry all this new gadget stuff confuddles me.   

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kari27 The Airbnb computer decides your categorisation so there is no need for a button!

[Molly396]

You can’t pick your category. You can update photos and descriptions to increase the chance of being featured in a category. But there is no guarantee of appearing in that category. I hope they change this because it’s really not user friendly for guests or for hosts. 

[Kari27 · Accepted solution]

Well that is strange, I have photos & my first sentence about our Airbnb states we are historic so not sure what else I can do to make a computer deem my home category worthy 🙂

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kari27 In Airbnb land historic homes only exist in France I am afraid so you've no hope of getting into that category.

[Kari27]

That’s just sad & not correct, my home is listed on the state of California’s historic register & my property is in the historic district of Sacramento, California. 
Leave it to Airbnb to add a potential great guest draw & then not let hosts control it! 

[Molly396]

@Kari27  The algorithm has goals beyond just placing homes into -appropriate categories. They are trying to sell/push guests to a more diverse group of properties and in the process they aren’t actually providing the most relevant results. One way I heard it said by Airbnb was “distribute guests across more locations and dates”. Really disappointing and also incredibly misleading for guests. 

if you look at what is coming up via categories, lots of the results don’t have fabulous photos, or really any photo descriptions (these were the updates Airbnb suggested I make to possibly be included… but it seems not to matter). 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kari27 Believe me it is correct. Airbnb has stated that the Historic Homes category is only open to those homes in France that have a particular legal definition in France. In some ways it makes sense or all the thousands of  Victorian houses in the UK would end up in this category.

[Molly396]

@Mike-And-Jane0  maybe you can advise a little about this— Airbnb rep encouraged me to detail our homes historical significance. They told me to do this like 3 times. We are located in the US and a home here can be a historical landmark (these homes cannot be changed and have to be preserved, not sure it would make a great STR but whatever). 

I told them we are not a historic landmark and they still encouraged me to add info about historical significance, which sounds very broad, vague, and maybe misleading to me. Any idea what might be relevant information for me to include?! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Molly396 You can add all the information you like but you won't, under current Airbnb thinking, get into the historic homes category. All a bit bizarre but there it is. In England we have Grade 1 and 2 listings where buildings with significance are protected from change but apparently even this doesn't count for Airbnb.