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?

[Susan1188]

Oh my gosh there is so much wrong with the new release I can't believe it.

But at the same time I am reassured, because surely this cannot all be intentional and so I'm hoping the impact on our search results won't be as bad as I feared.

I finally got all of my listings visible on the map, by going into each one and turning on and off "pets accepted".

I did a search as a guest - I'm going away tomorrow and looking for a place in the country with a view, 2 hour drive max.

So I type "Andalucia", dates May 17-19, 2 people.

The map zooms to the proper area.

But the "Amazing Views" category disappears!!!

And the majority of the other "category" buttons are slightly greyed out and do not work!

I tried a search for Ronda.  Mountain area, inland.

The categories that scroll across the top are:

Beachfront!  and other irrelevant categories (see photo)

So I scroll over to see which categories are not greyed out, and "Camping" is the only one I can tap.

When I tap it, the map zooms out to encompass the entire Andalusia, whereas I had put Ronda to start off with.

Obviously if someone typed in Ronda they might actually want to be going to Ronda.  So I try to use the "back" arrow at the left of the screen to get my Ronda search back.  it does not work; 
I have to type in Ronda again.

I try Setenil de las Bodegas, nearby Ronda, known for its cave dwellings.  With "I'm flexible" any week, 2 people picked.

Yes, cave dwellings show up on the search result but the CAVES category does not work!!! it's greyed out.  
Like probably the only reason anyone wants to go to Setenil is to see the caves!!! So you would think the artificial (un)intelligence would propose caves to people searching for that town.

None of the buttons work, except.... BOATS!!!   And SURFING!!!    Setenil de las Bodegas is a 2 hour drive from the coast!!!!  Known for its Cave dwellings and rock formations, hikes and mountains. Why would you propose boats and surfing to someone searching for Setenil de las Bodegas!!!

I have a little experience in web development, I wonder @Airbnb  did you not do any beta testing with hosts on a parallel server before going live with this thing?

[Molly396]

@Susan1188  Not sure it will help but I would suggest starting a ticket with Airbnb —as a guest

Yesterday I searched and tried to book a “creative space”  in Pittsburgh, where I live. Airbnb couldn’t suggest a single one, and also none in the whole state of Ohio or Michigan. I called them and asked if they could suggest one to me so I could book.

They seemed a little flummoxed, disappointingly said there weren’t any, and that they’d “look into it”. 

[Susan1188]

@Molly396  Great Idea I'll call and ask for a cave dwelling in Setenil de las Bodegas! lol

[Nancy1633]

ZERO bookings since Airbnb's redesign made my charming Catskills cabin unfindable, unbookable and generic. I've gotten a single "Inquiry" whether June 3-5 was available-- something a guest could have found easily for themselves before burying the calendar!  Meanwhile, Airbnb is promoting weeks in late 2022/2023! And removed my descriptive "Barrel Sauna" title!   Oh, but the Airbnb landing page will help you find listings in the Arctic or in a treehouse!  What were they smoking? Busy season is here, and this "redesign" has completely messed with hosts and guests alike. 

They need to admit a mistake and "undo" this mess.  "Pride goeth before the Fall "

[Tony-And-Una0]

I see you are also getting the "Condo" description.

Not a term we use in UK or Ireland but it has suddenly appeared on lots of the listings.

[Stephanie365]

@Airbnb  @Sybe  @Stephanie 

Judging from the 16+ pages of commentary here plus other threads addressing this issue (not to mention a whole lot of negative press on Social Media), allowing your Bots to pick the categories for our listings is a huge catastrophe. Quite frankly the entire "AirBNB 2022 Summer Release" is a disaster.  But this is what happens when cubicle dwellers with no concept of reality decide to do something without consulting those of us who actually have to use this platform.

For hosts, we now have the increased concerns with this roll-out about being punished for listing inaccuracies. It's bad enough when a guest doesn't read the listing and marks a host down for not having a washer and dryer even though the host never said they had them. 

But now we have double jeopardy. The Category Bots say your home has an amazing pool!  The guest shows up only to discover there isn't a pool at all.

It's bad for the guests because their vacations are ruined by booking homes with the expectation of certain amenities or views. Yeah, yeah, you'll find them another place to stay, but that stress and  inconvenience of having to relocate is still time taken away from enjoying their vacation.

The guest rightfully throws a fit and demands something be done but instead of taking it out on the Cubicle Dwellers at AirBNB and Brian Chesky, they take it out on the innocent host by leaving a disastrous review that lowers the host's rating. And as we all know, if your rating falls below a certain threshold, The Review Bots start sending threatening messages about delisting you because your star rating says you suck.  Plus AirBNB punishes the host for the listing inaccuracy even though it is 100% AirBNB's fault. 

When your solution is to tell hosts that "Category placement is not guaranteed but to update your photos, captions, descriptions, get great relevant reviews, etc. to increase your likelihood of appearing" that is a steaming pile of poop.  The solution is to let the hosts designate which categories most accurately reflect their homes.   Because, they actually know their homes. 

~~~~~~~~~
And whose brilliant idea was it to try to force feed locations to guests?  If a guest wants to book in San Antonio, Texas showing them listings in El Paso, Texas isn't helpful. I know when I use search engines that redirect me to information I'm not looking for, it doesn't take much to make me go to a different search engine.  Something tells me VRBO and Booking are going to see a huge increase in traffic on their sites from people getting frustrated with AirBNB.   

I know I'm going to be adding my listings there since I suspect my AirBNB traffic is going to drop significantly.

[Susan1188]

@Stephanie365  well said!

First rollout since IPO.  I'm glad you mentioned the social media buzz.

[Louise1097]

Cubicle Dwellers? I call them Bay Area Types, or BATs. More money than sense, think they know best.

I used to be a cubicle dweller for OTAs and others when I spent 20 years as a user researcher, doing extensive research and usability testing. Before rolling stuff out. Looks like Air have zone zero research with its base host community, or with ordinary guests.

[The-Lodge-At-Hot-Lake-Springs0]

 I’m coming at this from a different angle. I’m actually trying to plan our summer vacations and will probably end up doing so outside of Airbnb. I just can’t get it to search what I need it to. If anyone has any insight, let me know. Trying to search for specific areas *without* specific dates. There are areas I want to visit and I will make my schedule around the availability of the home and/or location I want to visit. However I can only get it to search for a weekend, week, month or specific dates. It will not allow me to clear the calendar of dates and only search a specific area. Additionally when I attempted to search for my own property with the “week” setting it showed up with a week long stay available in February 2023, but my listing has week long availability starting in September 2022. 

[Nancy1633]

EXACTLY.  Guests cannot see calendar availability, cannot freely CHOOSE the length of stay.  The only interest shown in booking my place since the platform change is an inquiry if we are available on June 3-5!  Something that a CALENDAR would have answered quickly. Oh, but Airbnb is promoting a discounted week in 2023!   HUGE MESS.

[Suzanne302]

@The-Lodge-At-Hot-Lake-Springs0 

You can't. I experienced the same frustration. My trip dates were flexible and I wanted to see all available properties and then I would choose my dates. You can't do that anymore with Airbnb.

I went to VRBO and found exactly what I was looking for.

[Susan1188]

@The-Lodge-At-Hot-Lake-Springs0 

Exactly, I also went on as a guest to find a place to stay for my minitrip this week.  Impossible.  Click on category and it takes me 100km away from where I want to go.  No way to filter for simply: view, king size beds, without losing the city I was searching for.

I booked a hotel.

And also planning to re-open my other platforms with a channel manager because expecting a drop in bookings on Airbnb due to this fiasco.

[The-Lodge-At-Hot-Lake-Springs0]

How can I search for a listing by location without a date selected? The new update seems to only allow me to search by weekend, week, month or specific dates. 

[Susan1188]

And weekend = 2 days!
What if you want a 3 or 4 day midweek stay?

[James2743]

Any news on a patch or a fix for this yet?