How can Hosts benefit from Airbnb’s redesign?

Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

How can Hosts benefit from Airbnb’s redesign?

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As people start to feel comfortable traveling again, they’re not always sure where to go first—or when. So we just introduced a whole new way for guests to explore listings and discover great places like yours.

 

The new features can help you reach more guests in the earliest stages of trip planning. For example, we’ve added 21 Airbnb Categories, from Camping to Iconic Cities, to highlight great stays that guests can browse. Your listing could pop up in someone’s feed as soon as they open the app.

 

As a Host, you can improve your chances of getting noticed by making sure your listing details are as current and complete as possible—and complemented by attractive photos of your space. You can find out more on the Resource Center

 

What’s one thing you’ve done recently to make your listing really shine?

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144 Replies 144
Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi there @Gillian166, there have been no updates so far, however, I'll make sure to share this here should there be any. Thanks. 

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Kristina46
Level 10
Hawaii, United States

Im in South Kona Hawaii. My spectacular ocean views are my fortune. Review after review mentions my views! It's by far the favorite guest feature of my listing. I'm also in a neighborhood with one of the only private beaches in Hawaii. (Homeowners own up to the high tide line, very rare.) Yet I am not included in either the Beaches or the Views categories, despite having these two major draws in the title and photos. When I look at the beaches category, there are homes listed that are nowhere near any beach and are tagged to inaccessible beaches that require 4wd and trespassing to get to. Just dandy! It's as though no human actually reviewed things before it went live. Oh wait. 

 

I have also had a plunge in views and have been receiving only oddball inquiries, which is something that typically happens whenever they change the search algorithms. 

 

Yes, you can search the old school way, but it's buried under several steps, is counterintuitive and the interface clearly tries to deter you from doing so. Default is set to week long, weekend, etc. 

 

Websites should be easy enough for Granny to use. They are nervous enough booking something online where they are spending thousands of dollars. They will simply go elsewhere, to Booking or VRBO where it's easier. 

 

Digital nomading is a trend that is already fading. During the pandemic, I did get these kinds of travelers. But last year it starting changing back to tourists. They typically book three or four nights with me (drier, tropical, peachier, sunnier side) and the same on the other side of the island (jungle, rainforest volcano, waterfall side) since our island is so vast and diverse.  The new search makes this more of a challenge for guests to achieve and a real chore to search. 

 

This redesign seems hastily rolled-out, not ready for prime time and full of glitches and errors. The categories could be a great side feature for fun and browsing, but is not practical for most. Not everyone desires to stay in a shoe,  potato house, windmill, castle or 16,000/night Joshua Tree masterpiece of architecture. Most just want a comfortable, reasonable place to stay that's not a hotel. Please give us that back! 

Excellent observation.

If only they would care to listen.

Larissa112
Level 8
Boulder, CO

I'd like to add that we opened up our cabin last week for Thanksgiving. Before the new rollout these dates would have been swiped up within an hour. A week later and they are still open. @Airbnb your hosts are losing business, which means you are losing business. What are you going to do to fix this? 

Henry232
Level 3
Wilbar, NC

my listings are both tiny homes which always had between 20 and 50 views depending on the month, no NOTHING!!! I have been with airbnb and a superhost almost since it started and had two tiny homes before anybody even talked about tiny homes. One is a tiny tree house with a big living tree growing thru it - the other is a tiny house which is EXTREMELY artsy decorated inside and out. We are artists and worked on movies bringing home lots of scenery and incorporated that in and outside this tiny house and NO ITS NOT SUTLE! So why don't we show up in ANY category anymore? Also a 5 star rating after over 250 reviews should count for something!!! Very disappointed and looking into other booking sites even though i was loyal to airbnb to a fault in the past. 

 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Henry232 

 

My most popular listing had around 1,300 views in the month directly preceding the new update. That is substantial considering I only host long term stays of 28 days or more.

 

Since the new roll out, that listing is buried in search results and the views have plummeted. I have not received a single enquiry, let alone booking request, for it, since then. Like I said, it has always been the most popular one and the first to be booked.

i wonder if it's time to say goodby to airbnb and approach other host sites - this is not sustainable for me/us?!!!

 

Beverley123
Level 2
Mariposa, CA

I also noticed that if I search Mariposa, CA + any week + all homes, it shows my listing with a date in March 2023. It looks like I have no openings until then. What's that about?

I am gobsmacked by this, as it also shows me with a caption offering random dates in March 2023. It can't be for "weeks" available because starting June 1 my calendar is wide open. The kicker is, I don't allow bookings more than 6 months in advance and have that feature turned off. So there's a red warning under those 2023 dates, reading "these dates are not available." Inviting, eh? Makes it appear as though you are so popular you are even booked out until past March of next year!

@Kristina46 

 

Exactly the same thing happened to me! My listing offered ARBITRARY weeks in 2023, meanwhile my summer (August) calendar was wide open!  Insult to injury, the arbitrary week DISCOUNT shown gave the false/misleading impression that my nightly  rental fee was that LOW. 

 

Moreover, my descriptive title ("Bluestone Cabin Retreat with Barrel Sauna") was stripped, concealing my listing's most popular feature--  a cedar barrel sauna with a picture window overlooking the woods---added at considerable cost.  Oh, and "cabin" searches of my village zoom out to neighboring hamlets and don't show mine on the map-- until you zoom way into the village! 

 

I have not had a single booking since the platform change, and at the most popular U.S. travel season.  I hear others on these boards saying the same thing.  

Henry232
Level 3
Wilbar, NC

reading all these comments, it looks like somebody mess up lauching an AI driven site and it DOES NOT WORK!!! Imaging that!!! Airbnb has to wake up to this, why are we not getting any response? Oh, i know, it's not about hosts it's all about guests - follow the money!! 

But if guests can't book easily or are discouraged and confused by the new search mechanism, and bookings plummet, and thus Air service fees, who benefits? 

If you look at Twitter, the guests don't like this interface either. I think this is someone's personal brainchild but that person is clueless about how people use and search on Airbnb.

Helen56
Level 10
San Diego, CA

I have a private room in my house that I've rented out on airbnb for several years.  When I do a regular search in San Diego it shows up.  However, the listing's name is changed from 'Bright room in tranquil setting' to 'Private room in Linda Vista' which is not what I want it to be called.

If I click the 'shared homes'  button then my listing does not appear at all, even though it is a shared home.

Please get airbnb to:

1. restore our listings' names.

2. let hosts choose our preferred categories - we know our areas best.

3. Even better: Ditch the new categories and go back to how it was before.

Mine says "Guest Suite in Captain Cook" instead of "South Kona Studio, 2 mins from Beach, spectacular views!" 

 

Now, which place would you rather stay in?