Airbnb 2022 Summer Release: What you need to know

[Airbnb]

Our 2022 Summer Release represents the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade. We’re introducing:

• Airbnb Categories: A new way to search that makes it easy for guests to discover millions of homes they never knew existed

• Split Stays: An innovative feature that pairs two listings when a guest searches for a longer stay

• AirCover: The most comprehensive protection in travel, included for free with every stay

Get all the details on the Resource Center, and tell us: Will you be updating your listing for Airbnb Categories and Split Stays? How will you update it?

[Tony-And-Una0]

Can't they just have a simple search where you can sort by price and distance from city centre.

Like most other travel  sites have.

[Susan1188]

@Tony-And-Una0  you still can sort by the map and price and distance if you don't touch those "category" buttons!
But the category buttons are so prominent and distracting, guests are not going to understand how to do a classic search and are going to lose time.

I'm thinking of re-activating my booking dot com listing until this is sorted out, it's going to take a toll on reservations.

[Tony-And-Una0]

Agreed.

BTW, how do you sort by distance? I have never noticed that.

[Susan1188]

Sorry, I just meant map view.  zooming in or out on the map to include properties in a zone.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Tony-And-Una0  yeah, but these changes are not for "most Airbnb guests":) As my friend said - it is made for Instagram and youtube "influencers" and trust fund babies who are free to flit around the world, to whatever place or listing looks cool enough to be in the background of their selfies 😄

It is understandable that Airbnb wants to cover this "small niche" as well, but the problem is - they will be frustrated and confused with these inaccurate categories and search results just like 99% of other, ordinary guests and hosts.  The idea is good, but it is not implemented in the right way. It is so obvious that it will result in a ton of cancelations, frustrations, bad reviews, low ratings and a lot of time wasted not only for guests and hosts but for Airbnb CS as well.

[Louise1097]

Yup, our stock-in-trade is weddings, funerals, memorials, musical performers, speakers, dads visiting their children, IT contractors,  house-hunters, local family reunions...

[Angela2820]

My property sits right on the edge of a lake and doesn’t show up if I search for ‘lakes’ or ‘lakefront’. I’ve tried putting ‘lakefront’ and ‘lakes’ in the title and the description and you can see the lake in the cover photo and in several other photos. What more am I supposed to do?!

In fact, I can see that the area my property is in (the Cotswolds Lakes area!) has not a single property showing up as ‘lakefront’ and there are loads as it’s a popular tourist area. Apparently there are only about 25 properties in the whole of England that are on a lake!

The most annoying part though is that 90% the properties that do show up for ‘lakefront’ are not even on a lake! There is not a lake in ANY of the photos of most properties and the descriptions don’t mention them being on a lake. It’s so inaccurate it’s crazy. 

On a side note, I find it incredibly frustrating that my property doesn’t show up for flexible weekend breaks because I have it set to 3 nights minimum and not 2. Friday to Monday is classed as a weekend break surely? I’m quite new to this so still learning!

[Tony-And-Una0]

This is beyond crazy.  You are clearly on a lake.

Regarding flexible weekend breaks. If this is just for  two days, surely this has defeated the whole point that people are now able to work with more flexibility and can take three or four day breaks .

I consider a two day weekend an un-flexible weekend

[Susan1188]

Absolutely agree a weekend should be 3 days not 2.

My area: most guests arrive on low cost flights.

People do not come here for a 2 day weekend.

[Susan1188]

@Angela2820  if you ask CS they will tell you to just be a better host! improve your photos, service, interaction, activity on the website and quality!
That's the response I got!!!
Impossible to influence the all-knowing algorithm.

[Huma0]

@Susan1188 

That's not the response I got from CS.

The told me to lower my prices, allow shorter stays and unblock dates on the calendar - all things I am not prepared to do.

I asked the rep why hosts should have to be the ones to change their previously successful businesses to make up for a glitchy algorithm and search function that Airbnb has messed up. He didn't really have an answer, but at least he was honest and polite about it.

[Susan1188]

One of my listings has completely disappeard from the map and search results no matter what search criteria I leave blank or fill in:


https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/50555053?check_in=2022-05-28&check_out=2022-05-30&guests=2&adults=2&pet...

Update: I got it to appear by turning off instant book, turning on "pets acccepted" and searching for a property with a pet.

Will see what happens when I turn off pets accepted again.

Ahaha!  It worked!   

If your listing is not showing up, turn on "pet accepted" then turn it off again.  Hope that helps someone.

[Molly396]

I’ve called Airbnb a few times this week to try to navigate “categories”. Each time, I am told that category placement is not guaranteed but to update my photos, captions, descriptions, get great relevant reviews, etc to increase my likelihood of appearing.  

To get some inspiration, I browsed the category results. Some (about half) have incredible photos. About half do not. Most of the listing results have no captions and lacking descriptions and many have zero reviews. 

So how am I to know what to do to get myself into the appropriate category (I believe there are two we should be included under). This doesn’t make sense to me and it seems there’s actually another reason these properties were chosen (because they don’t meet the criteria of photos, descriptions, relevant reviews, sometimes even the wrong geography entirely —like beach house not next to beach— to place in category).

These “categories” that don’t actually categorize all results have been pretty problematic for me and for my business.

Can anyone help me square the advice I’m getting from Airbnb with what the results/ outcomes are really showing??!! 

[Susan1188]

@Molly396 were the properties without great photos, unusually cheap by any chance?  rock bottom cheap?  so cheap there is no way a host can provide even a decent clean sheets for that price?  that's what I'm seeing...

[Molly396]

@Susan1188 
YES you’re right! The properties with great photos were something like 2K and up per night. Most had super limited availability and as they continue being promoted this way they will be completely unavailable very soon. 

The goal of this update is NOT to categorize and organize all appropriate listings. It’s to distribute guests across more locations and dates.

I think these very wonky and inaccurate results we are seeing are reflective of that—- most of the properties being suggested are incredibly rural. When you search for a city stay you are redirected to somewhere less popular.