How can Hosts benefit from Airbnb’s redesign?

[Quincy]

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?

[Lisa34]

How long before the categories are fully populated. Almost none of our local properties have been included in Amazing View which is shocking as it is the mountains and most of us book mainly for the view.  I mean I am totally biased but this view from our patio looks pretty good to me.

[Lisa34]

All uploads are failing, so I can’t load the picture. UGH

[Huma0]

@Quincy 

I'm interested to know what qualifies as "front-page worthy photos". The photos on all my listings are taken by professional Airbnb photographers. When I search the shared homes category, most of the handful of listings that come up in my area (and I am looking at a large section of South London) don't have what I would classify as "front-page worthy" photos.

Here are three examples of listings the algorithm has chosen:

Now, I am not saying there is anything wrong with these listings which seem fine (although I need to put my rates up as they are all priced substantially higher than mine), but can you spot the difference when you compare what they have used as the lead photo to the one from my listing, which doesn't show up until I enter dates (the other two don't show up even then)?

 I'd be interested to know which of the above four photos people would pick if they had to choose one as 'front-page worthy"...

And yes, my amenities are listed and up-to-date.

[Gillian166]

@Huma0 
haha, not even a trick question. You don't need to be a photographer (which I am) to tell that those first 3 are not professional images.  

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

Exactly. In the second photo, you can even see the reflection of the guy taking it.

Again, I am not criticising the listings. They don't look 'bad' to me, just your average homestay listing, clean and reasonably well equipped. I just don't think the photos are 'front-page worthy', so clearly that aspect of the algorithm isn't working.

Also the algorithm has chosen lead photos that are not the strongest. It seems that in some cases, it chooses a living or dining room or other communal space to illustrate that it is a 'shared home'. Still, it doesn't make sense because, in other cases, it chooses to show the guest room.

There seems to be very little rhyme nor reason going on here.

[Kimberly718]

As a host, I am very concerned about the new Airbnb Category-only landing page. 

I am shocked that Airbnb made such a dramatic shift away from the previous design of the site which used Ai to track and learn about traveler preferences and then serve up properties of interest. I can't understand why they couldn't introduce categories as a slider or ancillary search tool to showcase unique places and inspire travelers without losing the workhorse of this booking and marketing tool. 

I worked hard to obtain my 5-star rating; I had great conversion rates, visibility within the algorithm, and traveler saves.  I followed all of Airbnb's recommendations about how best to showcase my home, and how to be a great host. My summer bookings were going gangbusters until they came to a complete stop with the launch of this new design.

My luxury guest house which is located in the countryside on a historical farm, featuring a herd of longhorn cattle and horses, close to vineyards, beach, lakeside and golf courses is now relegated to one category (farm stay) where it is buried deep within a random collection of farm stays, several of which don't have farm animals at all. With no way to adjust the categories or add tags to inform the Ai, the power to market and gain visibility has been taken out of hosts' hands, and our business, marketing and success is precariously at the mercy of Ai (Artificial Intelligence). Airbnb seems to have put ego first with "design" category which features the most impossible to compete with stays in the most far-reaching corners of the world.  What is next? Will they adopt the Facebook business model of "You need us we don't need you" and "Do not contact us... ever" policy? I hope this is not the case, I truly love the platform which seemed like a Win-Win-Win for host-traveler-Airbnb. When the balance of those three things changes, many people lose. Airbnb if you're reading this, please don't let that happen. 

[Quincy]

Hi @Kimberly718, thank you for sharing your thoughts here, I really appreciate your honesty. We'll add your feedback to all the comments we are passing on to the team.

[Julie1247]

I think you need to take a long hard look at the whole thing Quincy, it’s a disaster! I agree with and am experiencing all the comments above and on this page and I am very distressed with this move. Are you trying to reduce occupancy? Are you favouring certain listings? I can’t find any of mine and my bookings have reduced to zero on some listing. NOT HAPPY!

[Kimberly718]

this whole shift is horrible and serves only Airbnb. It's unfortunate. All of the work we hosts have done to gain traction and visibility for our listings have been erased. My 5.0 star luxury farm stay in the countryside on a historic farm appears now in one category below 50 other listings many of which are barely 4 stars and some don't even appear to be on a farm. 

[Susan1188]

@Quincy @Sybe 
This is an absolute catastrophe, lack of transparence, lack of control for the host, I feel like I've lost all the benefit I've worked so hard to build up over the last year;
When I click on "All homes" several of my properties don't even show up on the map!
One does, when I click on beachfront it disappears!  But my next door neighbor 2 feet from me stays visible!  Who has 8 reviews compared to my 200 five star reviews!
This is an absolute catastrophe and I don't know what to say.

[Quincy]

Hi @Susan1188 @Darrin10, thank you for your feedback here, which we've shared with the team. Perhaps it might be worth trying some of the tips mentioned in this article as well — it explains more about what you can do to increase the chances to highlight your listings in specific categories.

[Kimberly718]

Quincy, Thank you for your message however it's really important right now to provide firm responses as to what Airbnb is doing and that they recognize the impact of this massive change. Just "passing feedback along to the team" is not quite cutting it. This is a system-wide failure where people are LOSING revenue.

My bookings have completely gone, full STOP. No bookings and almost 0 visibility when I was getting 30 views per day and a nearly 5% conversion rate which is fabulous. I was making money for Airbnb, almost exclusive to any other booking/marketing platform.

Why does Airbnb want to kill my business? How is this good for their business? This isn't even user-friendly for travelers. Several past guests said they can't even find me and have reached out to see if they can book direct.  I have removed Airbnb from my website as my preferred booking engine and I'm bumping up my VRBO, Plum Guide and Booking.com. This is a real mess and requires fast action before you lose the workhorse of your host network. Yikes. 

[Julie1247]

Kimberly718 I am feeling your pain! I couldn’t agree with you more! What an absolute disaster this new system is! As a traveller too, I wouldn’t know where to start! I also used to use only Airbnb, couldn’t praise it high enough, but I’m bailing - no wait, it seems they’ve already bailed me!!!!

[Susan1188]

@Kimberly718 

Ditto same as you:  removing Airbnb from my website as preferred booking engine.
Now linking to another platform on my social media posts for instant book.

Because guests I have attracted will arrive on my Airbnb website thanks to *my* social media content, advertising and website, and immediately be redirected other people's properties!  As soon as they click on a category THAT I HAVE!

So why would I send guests that went through *my* website, to Airbnb now?

Administrators, have a look at my statistics, how many views of my page are direct access from outside of Airbnb?  Not through the search engine?

That is the volume of business that I was (past tense) orienting to Airbnb for instant booking.

[Sasha216]

For the first time, I am considering other booking engines. I have never had a need to do this until now because of the introduction of categories from Airbnb. I was so happy in the beginning to have everything rest with Airbnb and not deal with multiple calendars. And business was GOOD. There was zero need to use anything other than Airbnb. But fiscally I cannot afford to sit around without bookings. I didn't budget for all my bookings to vanish as we enter peak tourist season for my two properties. To say I'm dissappointed is an understatement, I am freaking out because I am getting so little bookings.