I don't have a pool!

[Laura2592]

Why is Airbnb asking this?

 

[Colleen253]

@Laura2592 Oh this stuff drives me nuts! It’s not even just that I get asked about amenities I don’t have. I also get asked over and over again about amenities I have had checked off since the beginning. How many times can Airbnb ask me if I have a stove, or a back yard? I will be able to tell you for sure, once my hosting journey has ended. We are probably up in the hundreds of times already….

[Laura2592]

@Colleen253  I joke about guests who ask if I have a pool. Because I don't.  Clearly do not. And I've used that as a way to point out the lack of reading comprehension that some folks have. But now I wonder if I'm somewhere on a "pool" filter due a platform glitch and maybe those people aren't the ones who are clueless.  Maybe it's me!

[John5097]

@Laura2592 I suspect it may be picking up key words while scanning messages and reviews. My listing shows up in another beach town, and suspect its because guest mention it in the reviews that its close by and I provide a parking pass. So don't say the "P" word! 🙂 

[Colleen253]

@Laura2592 We could probably chalk just about anything up to platform glitches, an out of control algorithm, or new features that make no sense to host or guest, and are seemingly meant only to showcase the so-called talents of the folks who implement them.. 

I did a quick search with pool selected as an amenity and you are #10 on the list. The first 9 may or may not have pools (I didn’t look), but you’ll see from the screenshot that ‘pool’ is crossed out on yours (and is also on all listings following yours.) On all preceding listings it is not. 

[Huma0]

@Colleen253 

Yep, I also get asked repeatedly about certain amenities. How many times do I have to confirm that yes, I do have outdoor space? 

The other thing that is really annoying is the 'Opportunities' page. It's completely useless. I am either told to do something I absolutely do not want to do (allow pets, last minute bookings, switch to a Flexible cancellation policy) or to add amenities that are non-sensical, e.g. a cot when I have selected no infants. Why? Perhaps for an adult who has a fetish for squeezing into a cot? Or air conditioning - I guess for the two-day heatwave we get once a year in London...

[Dimitar27]

Went through this. 🙂

I am also being asked from time to time about amenities, that I've never had.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Laura2592 

I did a search in my area with a "free parking" filter.

Got 111 results.

8 of them had it, other 103 didn't... and I didn't notice "free parking" is crossed like in an example given above by @Colleen253 nor there were any divider between first 9 results and the other 103

[Laura2592]

This is so frustrating.  Why I'd search like this? Guests filter what they want, don't read thinking they are getting what they searched for, and then are confused when the host days "no sorry.  We never had that." Guess who gets a bad review?

[Mark116]

@Laura2592 @Branka-and-Silvia0  That is actually really concerning....having the search filters work properly is super basic, and one of the few things I always thought Airbnb did a good job on.  I wonder when the filters went haywire?  The last upgrade?  Or been that way for a while?  Who knows.  Crazy. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mark116it happened somewhere within the last 2 years.

[Mary419]

This confusion is crafted to go along with the “I’m Flexible” and the hilarious parody-like but totally real newly announced “I’m EVEN MORE Flexible” search style. 

They don’t want to lose the customer by not having enough results that are what the customer really wanted. So they are trying to lure people to book something… “a little different” shall we say… from what they started out searching for. 

Just one problem! Most guests are not flexible at all when it comes to the location they want. The notion that there are droves of people out there with money to burn going just anywhere that Airbnb floats in front of them is totally silly in my opinion. There may be a hundred aimless people who would willingly pay to stay somewhere they had no prior desire to visit but the normal mass of vacation guest customers know exactly where they want to go!! Or exactly what they want (pool, beach, etc). Guests are funneled into the I’m flexible results whether they started that way or not based on all we are seeing 

The amenity, location etc muddy water isn’t helpful and it will result in wasted time for hosts answering questions from confused guests. 

Or worse - having reservations where the guest realizes later that it isn’t what they actually searched for. They may even blame the host for a bait and switch which wasn’t the hosts fault at all. 

[Laura2592]

@Mary419 I woke up this morning to a question from a booked guest about when pool "opens." This is not the first time I've had a guest thinking I have a pool (though theres zero in the listingto indicate this.) I explained that I don't have one, and am expecting that this guest will probably cancel.  The reservation is a few months out so if they do, hopefully it will be soon. 

I'll tweet this at Airbnb when I have some free time. It's just absurd. 

[Colleen253]

@Laura2592 You might also ask that guest if they were specifically searching for a listing with a pool/how they came to think you have one.

[Laura2592]

@Colleen253I did. I said "Oh I am sorry, there must be confusion. We don't have a pool at our cottage. Do you mind telling me where you saw that amenity listed?"

So far no response yet.