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

[Susan1188]

Dear @Catherine-Powell  I'm glad you're interacting and watching this forum!

Can I please share with you some of the feedback I've been getting from guests:

(1) Tapping on the categories makes the map zoom out.  It is hard for the guest to get back to searching in the zone they originally wanted.  Risk of them booking a property that is not where they thought they were going.

=> I have had an unprecedented series of people booking, and having to drive long distances, notably  from Portugal, 5 -8 hour drive away from me.
=> These guests, greatly underestimated how long they would have to drive to reach us!
=> Arrived tired, frazzled, made us wait hours and hours for check in, all around bad, bad "EXPERIENCE" for arrival and check in.  In my opinion the check in is the most important points of guest experience, so this is making it difficult for all of us!

(2) Irrelevant categories proposed 

=> Irrelevant categories are proposed, for certain areas.  Search for a home in the mountains and you get "surfing" and "beach" across the top of your screen
=> This makes the platform look ridiculous and undermines confidence in the search engine
=> Makes the  EXPERIENCE of choosing your stay, confusing, burdensome, and full of distractions (which will not translate into conversions).
=> Surely your tech teams are monitoring the number of conversions that happen after people type on one of the "categories" - how is that going for you, compared to conversions before?

(3) Too many categories proposed, but filters are hidden

=> Lake view, sea view, water view, ocean view, fjord view....  People know where they are going and what kind of body of water they are going to see.   Condense it all to "water view"!
=> Having so many similar categories makes the search engine look amateur and is hard to navigate
=> At the same time, the "filter" button is off to the side and hard to find and understand.  People don't "get" the difference between filter and category.
=> People know what they want, for example, view, king size beds, blackout blinds.  It is virtually impossible to do a simple search for these things.
=> It takes more time to click through various, very similar categories, and find irrelevant properties proposed in each one, making the EXPERIENCE of choosing your property frustrating

(3) Display of spectacular but irrelevant properties on the home screen

=> Proposing properties on other continents, in areas that would require 24 hours of travel to reach, that are over 500$ (or 5000$!) a night, makes Airbnb look completely out of touch 
=> Submarines, tree houses and bubbles are not places any of my guests would ever consider going to, seeing these properties pushed feels gimmicky and disconnected from real market demand
=> The EXPERIENCE is more like looking through a travel magazine, not so much using a search engine for finding your next stay, the risk is the guest will log off and turn to another OTA

[Patricia1945]

Totally agree , who ever is driving this ridiculous platform needs to listen to the hosts , we are a very small airbnb but our bookings are gone except for some repeats and bookings made before the change, come on airbnb *****LISTEN *****

[Huma0]

@Patricia1945 

Ditto, my only bookings are those made before the changes or from repeat guests.

I have had a very small number of enquiries, but have noticed that most of them are asking questions about the location. While this used to happen occasionally before, it's strange that all of a sudden the guests all seem not to be able to figure out the location. Yes, that information is also available if you click to see more detail on the 'where you'll be' section of the listing, but we all know that most guests do not read listings in that detail in the first instance.

All they are looking at is the map view, which I guess is now confusing them because none of these guests went on to book once I explained to them where the listings were located. That was not the case before the Summer Release.

[Patricia1945]

yes totally agree

if you are going to take a holiday the first thing is where do you want to go and most people know where they want to take a holiday so they search the place they want in that area , unless your super rich (in which case you will probably stay in 6 star hotels and be waited on ) you will have a budget so price is really important , then you will have to take holidays from work so you need to check out the place you are going and price ,also how much travel costs and availability are, then you book your holidays off work accordingly , most people would not put the date in if they are just looking at a holiday, they would search first get an idea on price then see if they can get holidays from work , they don't as this stupid summer edition states , go looking for a weekly stay , they want a holiday which includes a base to stay usually for a few days, while exploring that area then move on to another (hopefully airbnb) place to explore from , really if they just want to stay in a place all day long they may as well book some where close to home and save on travel expenses.

I think the Airbnb marketing people need a reality check and get back to the basics , Im not saying that they shouldn't market week long stays but it should be secondary to the initial search, if I was looking for a place to holiday and I hit the search button for an area and it brought up this ridiculous weekly stays at some place I didnt want to go to and see weekly prices when I don't want to stay a week , then I would look else where and now days with google search engines there is thousands of accomodation opportunities to look at apart from airbnb. 

Change the initial search engine back to the old way airbnb for everyones sake 

[Susan1188]

I agree, I have had a large number of guests coming from places where I never had guests before.
And many are surprised about the location!!!
Before, people picked my location, get a property in my location, and left 5 stars for location!
I just got my most recent 4 star for location, because we were not where the guest was expecting!
This means, the GUEST had a BAD EXPERIENCE because Airbnb proposed a LOCATION she wasn't interested in, and she takes it out on my review!

And I suppose my regular clients who seek out my neighborhood, are being sent to surrounding areas and also leaving 4 stars or less for the location of their stay.

@Stephanie , here is a tip for your technical team: have a look at how many guests have left less than 5 star reviews about location, compared to before the roll out, and see if I'm right.

[Holly279]

@Patricia1945 This whole debacle reminds me of “New Coke.” A  “brilliant rebrand”  that survives today only as a cautionary tale about fixing that which is not broken. 

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi Susan,

I love this comment and all of this really great feedback. Thank you for taking the time to share it with me here. I've also shared your message with our leaders on the Categories team.

Many thanks for Hosting,
Catherine

@Susan1188 @Patricia1945 @Holly279 @Huma0 

[Susan1188]

Dear @Catherine-Powell  thanks for recognizing my feedback.

In the meantime, to corroborate what I said, I had a guest who had no idea where she was going (despite it being very clear in my listing). She loved her stay but left 4 stars for the location.

This is not a GOOD GUEST EXPERIENCE.

She was expecting another location, we gave her a great five star holiday but she was disappointed on the location.

You have all the data, look on my profile, review from Antonia who recently stayed in my place.

Our location is 5 star and many guest seek us out on the map for this reason.  Many guests only want to come to this neighborhood.  Your AI is now "marketing" us to guests who would not have chosen this location.  So they are disappointed.  On our side, how can we make it clearer?  The map pin is in the information the guest receives.

Dear Catherine, for the guest experience, you cannot continue to zoom out the map, and block out legitimate properties from the "category" section when the guest has chosen their area.

To be constructive, may I offer the following:

People want a great "experience".  For me that is view (who cares of what).  No noise.  King beds.  Professional laundry not host-washed semi-dried Ikea sheets.  Blackout blinds.  Attentive service.  A host who cares and who proposes thoughtful solutions and tips.

None of these will be guaranteed by your "lake view, sea view, ocean view, lagooon view, pond view, river view, stream view, beach view" categories.

Why not do what booking does:  use AI to condense guest review comments into certain themes and allow a guest to filter thru comments for (for example):
"quiet"
"good sleep"
"good beds"
"great view"
"nice host"

etc  

[Suzanne302]

@Catherine-Powell 

I don't know who is advising you, but from a PR perspective popping in the CC every now and then and choosing to interact with one random commenter in each thread and ignoring all the other comments is worse than not showing up in the CC at all. And I say this not as a casual observer (or the frustrated host that I am) but from the perspective of someone who has 20+ years experience in PR and who has training in crisis communications.

It doesn't make you look concerned, it further divides you from the hosts in this forum.

[Stephanie]

Hey @Suzanne302 ,

Thanks for the fair feedback here on how Airbnb staff members interact and use the Community Center. We're going to come together and plan a better way for Airbnb staff to engage on the Community Center that is meaningful but also manages the Host community's expectations more appropriately. 

Thanks again,

Stephanie

[Nancy1633]

@Catherine-Powell 

AirBnb's promise to 'restore' Host titles in July is curiously timed with the 1st quarter of the 2022  Summer Release.  Why not NOW?  Is bringing back titles a scheme to calm nervous shareholders after they learn how bookings have plunged? 

Too little, too late.

You can bring back titles, but bringing back people is much harder. Given the sweeping inaccuracies in your AI platform, and counterintuitive search in a blizzard of icons, and bizarre arbitrary WEEKS, AirBnb is fast losing its reputation as THE "go-to" website for short-term home rentals. People I know are booking on VRBO instead.

Your AI experiment has failed.  When a woman's Vermont listing is showing in LONDON, you've got bigger problems than angry Hosts and frustrated travelers.  The entire platform is riddled with errors, and AirBnb's changes to HOW travelers search destinations, see listings, pick dates to book has been a DISASTER. 

Admit a mistake. SCRUB the mess and go back to what WORKS.  

[Patricia1945]

Totally agree , maybe a class action will jerk some one into gear ? 

[Eddie-And-Sandi0]

You are so on the money.

Every day I check my views and I go from 10-0

Obviously something is not right.

I don't need to change my title (which they took away)

or my pictures that they took. They want us to fix what

was never broken. We have vanished from the map 

as simple as that. Maybe now they don't care because they

think these upscale properties will be enough but I promise

you when. people start noticing what's going on and how

there are no bookings people down here in Miami are

gonna start getting out its. only a matter of time.

It's just frustrating because you keep calling the ambassadors

and. they keep thanking you for being Super Host yet they

can't do anything all they tell me is keep calling keep complaining.

In the meantime I have nothing at all no bookings no views 

again like I said Vanished. Why did Chesky changed what was 

going so well it's not like he wasn't making money..

Greed definitely not a virtue.

[Roxana47]

I’ve had to lower my rates by 30% to get bookings! This is absolutely unacceptable! My calendars are full, but at what expense? Leave well-enough alone!

[Annie1372]

@Roxana47 

or maybe you need to raise your price to 18 000$ a night and just add a designer name in your intro 🤪