We’re testing a fresh new look for your listing

[Airbnb]

You may have noticed some listings look a little different lately, either within the main listing page or when they show up in search results. That’s because we’re testing a few changes that we hope will make it easier for guests to learn about your space.

What’s being tested?

We’re looking at new ways to display important information to potential guests. Here are some of the changes we’re testing:

• Key details—like title and rating—will be displayed above your photos on the listing page
• New links will quickly take guests to reviews, photos, and your listing overview
• Your listing type, title, and price will show up more clearly in the search results page

Why is this test happening?

These changes are intended to help guests find the information they need more easily and to bring more design consistency across the platform. But before we roll them out to all users, we first want to understand how guests are responding—and tests like this are an important part of that feedback process.

Is my listing included in the test?

Most likely, yes, even if you haven’t noticed any changes. Your listing will only feature the updated look for some users (so one guest viewing it might encounter the new design, while another gets the old one).

Will my listing information change?

No. All listing information will stay the same—we’re simply testing a new way of displaying it, one that will give more prominence to the details that matter most.

How long will the test run for?

We’ll be monitoring the impact of these new designs anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to get results.

We know changes to the platform can sometimes be a little jarring, and we’re trying to be better about explaining the “why” behind them. Thank you for your ongoing support, and please let us know if you have any questions or feedback in the comments below.

[Valerie152]

Pet fee, no brainer....so why the delay??!!!

[Susan17]

Rather than spending so much time, manpower and resources on purely  cosmetic, style-over-substance  exercises, why not instead pour all that energy and creativity into actually fixing the dozens of long-term, known glitches on the platform, that have been causing untold grief and hassle for hosts for years now - and in many instances, having serious repercussions on their income, their time and their peace of mind? (incorrect calculations, calendar unblocking itself, missing/delayed messages, smart pricing turning itself on, amenities mysteriously ticking/unticking themselves, listings disappearing from searches, instant book enabling itself, prices re-setting to much lower rates than the host has set, rule sets not working, minimum stays resetting to fewer nights than host has specified, etc etc)

Airbnb's legendary "all fur coat and no knickers" approach, really isn't the way forward as the company seeks to go public in 2020. Highly unlikely that potential investors will find such an MO impressive, enticing or reassuring when weighing up whether or not buying into the hype would be a good punt... 

[Rosemarie9]

Thank you for stating this Susan, I feel this would be of much more benefit to hosts than all the feel good jargon we are are continually fed. After a nightmare few months of glitches of all sorts affecting my listings, I am utterly demoralised. I can't believe how poorly the basic needs of hosts are disregarded. I am out of pocket after three and a half years of solid work and bookings. I feel like giving up, and I am making plans to get out. I check my listings all the time, readjust pricing etc regularly, but it means nothing if guests cannot physically book my listings due to resets, sudden wrong location or listing type changes etc etc. The past few months have involved too many calls to CS, only to have something fixed and yet another problem arise. It is pretty clear that the app problems are getting worse and more widespread. It is the absolute pits trying to run a small home business when most of your bookings come from a platform that is essentially rubbish and not fit for purpose. Those questionnaires that airbnb send out after calling CS are a joke. As of last month I could not with any conscience give them any stars. I am sure I am not the only host who feels that the love affair with airbnb is over. I have done my best to give guests a great service, despite feeling totally undervalued by a company that seems hell bent on destroying it's host base with it's hare brained policies and lack of service. Rant over.

[Sarah977]

@Susan17 Yes, there are far more pressing issues for the techies to be attending to than cosmetics. They are doing their nails while the house burns down around them.

[Jeff89]

Agreed. It's a waste of hosts time  perpetually reporting problems that never get fixed  - initially via  feedback suggestions and bug reports that fall into the black hole of no reply, then again by phone, being "rest assured" by "case managers" that the problems have been documented for attention or dont exist. But asked to please complete the feedback/bug form as well  indicating  the case manager did nothing apart from answer the phone and rest assure the caller that nothing would be done. 

So it would seem Abnb product managers/ technical people need each host or guest to report issues at least 3 times by the same peson for the matter still to be ignored.

[Giuliana142]

Pet fee...interesting, I never thought of that. I have 2 kittens and yes, it takes some extra work to keep the home fur-free. Yes, there should be a fee.

[Helen427]

@Airbnb @Giuliana142 @Marcy1 @Rosemarie9 @Susan17 @Lizzie @Stephanie@Laura_C @Anna 

@Quincy@Francesca 

I'm not sure what to make of the changes however feel that it may be impacting on my potential bookings as its fiddlier to see my photographs descriptions unless one knows how to navigate the system.

In my time of hosting I've had a few people tell me they are dyslexic so it's important to remember things like how these users also view our listings & navigate their way around to make decisions and bookings.

How's feedback on these changes from other langauage communities?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Please make a "reply to comment" text font DARKER here on CC. I have a poor vision and I struggle to read this light gray text

[Stephanie]

Oh, so sorry about that! We'll take a look at this for the next round of CC updates @Branka-and-Silvia0 

[Wei-and-Ting0]

So an AB test. 

[Tony-And-Una0]

Hello all,

When you click on the photo, you no longer immediately see our text that we have written to highlight an aspect of the property. 

It now involves two clicks which most people will not realise and will not do.

[Trevor243]

@Tony-And-Una0  Good spot! Captions often contain very important information.

On the old layout, clicking "Show Photos" displayed the photos with the caption alongside and buttons to allow easy navigation through the photos. With the new layout, we click on the small "photos" link and we get a vertical display of photos, but no captions. We have to click on a photo to open that photo with the caption in small text below. The need to click the photo to see the caption is not obvious. If a user clicks the photo, the caption is small and less easy to spot / read.

[Sarah977]

@Trevor243 @Tony-And-Una0  And I doubt that almost any guest is going to click on specific photos- they'll just look at the entire gallery.

[Kenneth248]

After some clicking, I can eventually see the captions on a PC. However, on a Chromebook, the caption is evidently below the visible screen area and I can't even scroll down to read it.

[Tony-And-Una0]

Also, please can we have ability to show reviews in chronological order. It's crazy that reviews for my properties from over two years ago are appearing first even though we have had hundreds of reviews since and have clearly made changes to our property since then and are more relevant to new bookers..