Host questions answered: Airbnb’s Summer Release

[Stephanie]

Updated Jun 19, 2022

Just to share a quick update that we have created the promised Resource Center guidelines for listing descriptions has been published and you can read it here.

Hi Hosting Community, 

A month ago, we introduced the Airbnb 2022 Summer Release with a new way to search designed around Airbnb Categories. 

Since then, we’ve gathered feedback from thousands of Hosts through our Community Center, Host Clubs, emails, and in workshops with the Host Advisory Board and Host leaders. Thank you for your valuable comments and suggestions. 

Today, we want to share an update on some of the important feedback you’ve shared.  More updates will follow. 

You can read about them here.

Please continue to share your ideas and feedback as it directly assists in how we evolve our platform. 

Your continued support, feedback and constructive thoughts on this and many of our release features is incredibly valuable and I encourage you to continue sharing here.

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Huma0]

Anyway, I have been informed that hosts can now call CS and ask for their listing to be considered for the category they feel appropriate (or removed from one they feel inappropriate) and receive an answer within seven days.

This is good news if it works and the CS reps dealing with this know what they are doing. Certainly, I would rather a person categorises my listings than AI.

I haven't called yet as I was already messaging with a rep about my drop in views. So, I have asked him why one of my listings appears in historical homes and iconic cities, but not the other two. I will report back if I get any answers.

[Kevin129]

@Jenn8  

@Stephanie  @Catherine-Powell  @Emilie 

Hi Guys, 

Having tried CS and leaving feedback via standard webpage, I'm hoping the admins may have another channel into AirBnb product team. 

Since the May release, search results do not mostly show my listings as Superhost but instead show a "rare find" tag. When I contacted CS they agreed it seemed to make no sense but they had no controls to influence the behaviour.  

However, just by fluke I found a search where the Superhost tag was displayed. That made me investigate a little further and now I see that it's not consistent. 

Here is an example: 

This search shows Superhost: 

Just by moving the map slightly it disappears and is replaced by "Rare find" 

 

Through experiment I have found that by changing the date range in the search parameters, sometimes Superhost is displayed although mostly it is "Rare find". 

It would be great to get some clarity on this inconsistent behaviour. 

Generally I think the Superhost tag is more important to hosts/guests than "Rare find" so if both could be applied, then Superhost should take precedence. 

Best wishes, 

Kevin

[Emilie]

Thanks @Kevin129 for testing this out and for the feedback! I appreciate that you've contacted the Support team and used the feedback form as well, I've shared it on my end as well. 🙂

Emilie

[Kevin129]

@Jenn8  

@Stephanie  @Catherine-Powell  @Emilie 

Hi Emilie, 

Thanks for passing this on. 

I'm not sure what the admin role involves. Are you guys able to ask questions or find out information from AirBnb or does the information just go from you to them?

Much is made of the superhost status on the platform and mine has mostly not been displayed since May when the summer update was made. Potential guests will naturally assume that I don't have it which is a bit frustrating. 

Can you find out the logic of "Rare find"? What triggers it? If I understand the logic I can probably find a way to manage my listings so that I don't trigger it e.g. block off some parts of my calendar etc... so I don't get booked so much. 

Best wishes, 

Kevin

[Emilie]

@Kevin129 My team is here to make sure the Community Center is a safe, healthy and constructive place for all to share questions and exchange experiences. We also read all posts, collect your feedback and relay it to various teams, and where possible we bring you updates and answers. 🙂

I'll see if I can get more details on this one and let you know here what I can find!

Emilie

[Kevin129]

@Jenn8  

@Stephanie  @Catherine-Powell  @Emilie 

Hi Emilie, 

I was wondering if you'd been able to find out anything about this Rare Find tag that has stopped my Superhost tag being displayed since the May update?

Best wishes, 

Kevin

[Kevin129]

@Jenn8  

@Stephanie  @Catherine-Powell  @Emilie 

Hi Emilie, 

Did you ever receive any information on this change that was implemented last summer?

Just to remind you, the issue is that my listings generally do not display Superhost and instead display a Rare Find tag on the search result pages. 

The algorithm that selects the Rare Find tag is not transparent to hosts so I do not know how to avoid getting this tag.

It would be great from my point of view if the platform allowed me to switch this off on my listings. Alternatively, if the logic that the algorithm is following is made transparent I may be able to change how I book out my listings to avoid the tag being triggered. 

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer. 

Best wishes, 

Kevin

[Kevin129]

Hi @Jenn8  @Stephanie  @Catherine-Powell  @Emilie 

Did you ever receive any information on this change that was implemented last summer?

Many thanks

Kevin

[Ann10]

@Kevin129- Sometimes I get the "Rare Find" label. I took a screenshot of the photo with the "Super Host" label and it's next to the main photo so if someone clicks on it, they will see on the 2nd photo that I'm a "Super Host."

[Kevin129]

Thanks @Ann10 - that's an interesting workaround 🙂 I guess I could just photoshop my photos with the Superhost tag included but it's probably breaking some kind of rule as anyone could do that whether superhost or not. 

[Ann10]

@Kevin129- I didn't photo shop any photos. I just took a screenshot of the Super Host photo and made it my second photo. I guess if you wanted it to always be on the 1st photo you would have to photo shop the Super Host label on the other side of the photo, but then there would be times when both sides say Super Host. Personally, the Rare Find label doesn't bother me that much because it means I'm booked a lot. 

However, recently getting booked isn't happening at the rate it did before the new system.

[Blaž-and-Patricija0]

@Stephanie  @Catherine-Powell  @Emilie @Juliane 

Hello everyone, I can literally copy what @Kevin129  wrote:

Having tried CS and leaving feedback via standard webpage, I'm hoping the admins may have another channel into AirBnb product team.

So, our story ... 

We have been getting around 800 views per month (might not be a lot, but we used to be completely booked from May to October in a highly seasonal coastal village in Croatia) before and we´re now down to 100 with ZERO bookings for September onwards. We were lucky enough to have had guests book May to August before the update and also had some returning ones. But I´m terrified what will happen after ... we have already signed up on other platforms with first bookings coming in already.

After the new release, we are desperately trying to find ways to fit into the right category. After writing, calling, etc. I was always only given the link to the general press release and the usual "MaChInE LeArNiNg" explanation.

After reviewing almost all listings in the immediate area, it´s still unclear to me why for example our place (literally 20 m form the beach with direct access to it) is not showing up in the beachfront category, while at the same time, properties 2+ kilometers from the sea are shown in the said category. Same for "design" and "beach" categories ...

I was really happy to have finally got to someone who was at least a bit interested in helping - support agent Roselle actually confirmed over the phone (great, that they are recorded) that it seems like it should be in those categories. She asked me to send over photos supporting my claims, which I did, and then ... nothing, complete silence!

Below are screenshots of the conversation (with dates) and photo of the house.

 [Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines] 

 

Please, could someone care...? At this point, any reply would be appreciated, just to know if we should even keep trying on Airbnb.

Thank you!

All my best,

Blaz

[Emilie]

Hi @Blaž-and-Patricija0, 

I'm sorry to hear you've tried talking about this with the Support team and have not received an answer. I'll send you a message shortly so we can look into it more together!

Thanks, 

Emilie 

[Blaž-and-Patricija0]

Hi there. Thanks for reaching out, I hope we can resolve this 🙂 Much appreciated.

[Stephanie365]

@Blaž-and-Patricija0 

[Blaž-and-Patricija0]

Hi @Stephanie365, not sure what you meant with the image above, but I’m happy to say that after @Emilie reached out to us, we actually got a reply from CS and they were helpful - after a week they included our place in a category that we sent proof (additional photos and descriptions) of.

Since then we have been getting some bookings, but not as many as last year for this time. We are very seasonal though and visitors wanting to visit the area usually book well in advance, so it’s most likely too late now unfortunately.

Regarding the update, what I’m missing the most are clear guidelines on what Airbnb is looking for in different categories! It would be illusional to imagine Airbnb will ever roll back the update, so better adapt to the new system - that’s why they should give us the tools and information to do so. At the same time, I totally agree that it cannot be up to hosts to decide in which category their property fits.

As much as I see the value of the categories (differentiation both for guests and hosts), this whole update was introduced really untransparently for everyone - guests didn’t get any instructions on how to use the new system and hosts didn’t get any instructions on what to do to emphasize the category they feel they fit in or what to do to maybe transition to others. All this under pretense of “mAcHiNe LeArNiNg”, which clearly doesn’t work (yet?).

All my best,

Blaz

[Emilie]

@Blaž-and-Patricija0 Great to hear that it got resolved!

I understand you'd find more guidance on the Categories useful and that's definitely a suggestion I can share with the team. 🙏

Emilie

[Ann10]

@Emilie- My listing is in the desert and has a water view. However, when I look under desert, it's no where to be found. The are other water views besides lake and ocean. Ours faces a marsh. What can be done about this?

[Emilie]

---

@Ann10 wrote:

@Emilie- My listing is in the desert and has a water view. However, when I look under desert, it's no where to be found. The are other water views besides lake and ocean. Ours faces a marsh. What can be done about this?

---

@Ann10 Did you contact Customer Service to ask them about this already? As I mentioned further up the process evolved over the last few weeks and if you share this with them now they should be able to assist. 🙂

[Jamie206]

While we have actually managed to get a hand full of new bookings in the last couple weeks. I'm afraid that it may be too little too late for our business. Even loading up on all the other platforms we are not able to survive the airbnb nonsense storm.... 

The summer update is still hampering everyone's business, I just don't understand the stalwart denial that they totally screwed up. 

Is anyone out there getting even remotely similar booking levels to the spring levels?

[Lisa34]

A month or so ago we started getting views and bookings again more like normal for some of our properties. 2 are still struggling (Southern Illinois), but doing a little better. I am not sure what changed exactly, but one weekend we got several bookings all at once.