Airbnb IOS app displays obsolete images for my listing in search results

[Olivia756]

I am using the latest Airbnb iOS app (22.45.1) and noticed that although we recently completely updated the photos for my property listing, only the first 5 new images are show in the search result thumbnail views. What’s even worse is not only does the remaining 25 images are all old photos that no longer exists on my listing, they are also displayed in the wrong order. Now my property looks so messed up with those out of order photos. We updated the Photos because we recently completely updated the furniture and decorations and hence did a new photo shoot and got a brand new set of photos. Due to this iOS app bug, customers will actually see a degraded experience, which completely defeats the purpose of our hard work to update the property.

I noticed the property’s detail page does show all the new photos, however the search result hold onto previously downloaded images for a long time. Why the Airbnb app makes such a false assumption that property photos won’t be updated? This bug hurts the booking of my property and if not fixed, will affect many listings in a similar situation as mine. Can Airbnb fix this iOS app at their earliest convenience please? I am really disappointed seeing how it affects my listing

[Bhumika]

Hello @Olivia756 ,

Just to know more about this bug and help you better , may I know if it appears properly (in order) when you view you listing photographs on desktop/laptop? Once I get these answers, I will make sure to escalate this bug for you in order to find some resolution to this.

Bhumika

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[Amy2476]

Hello Bhumika,

Thank you for your response! Yes the search result thumb view shows correct photo in correct photo on the desktop or mobile browser. It only has this problem for mobile apps (I have an iPhone, but suspect android may have similar issues if they employ the same caching strategy).  One can reproduce the bug using the following steps:

1) Search for a destination where you property resides

2) View your property in the search result thumbnail (or Carousel), flipping through all 30 photos 

3) Update photos in your property listing (e.g add a few more of replacing existing ones)

4) Perform the same search, saw old photos show up in the thumbnail/carousel. Notice the same search shows correct results on desktop and mobile browsers 

[Amy2476]

Once again, if this bug doesn’t get fixed whenever property owners update photos for their listing, they risk showing a messed up experience for their listing in the search results thumbnail/carousel. Because of this Airbnb iOS bug, property owners will be penalized when they make improvements to their property! ! ! I urge the Airbnb mobile team to please fix this bug ASAP.

[Amy2476]

Hello Bhumika, 

To clarify, Amy2476 is me (Olivia756) who is a property owner. I use Amy2476 as a guest account to see how my listing updates are seen by the customers. I might respond to your future questions from both accounts.

[Bhumika]

@Amy2476 @Olivia756 Noted the information, but can you send me your Airbnb profile link (in which you are facing this problem) in DM? If I send 2 ids, then it will cause confusion to the team who will try to solve your problem. Let me know and I will escalate it ASAP.

Bhumika

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[Amy2476]

@Bhumikaplease notice my profile is irrelevant here because I rely on a property management company to manage my listing. However, I have captured everything you need (including real example) for developer to investigate the bug in this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-T6XrBOQoxUfz83-AmShLV_vVLHh6OJPCv5hnbnvKHE/edit. Please pass along.

[Bhumika]

@Amy2476 Olivia756 Super, this helps. But, I would require your listing link too so that, the product team can check from their end if it is a bug. Please send your listing link or add it in the doc too. Then I will be passing it on to the concerned team. Great efforts!! 👏

[Amy2476]

@Bhumika@The link to my property listing is already in the doc: it is literally the second the link in the doc. Also doc is now accessible at

https://tinyurl.com/Airbnbiosbug

[Bhumika]

@Amy2476 @Olivia756 Done, nudged the concerned team for this.

[Amy2476]

Thank you very much @Bhumika ! I look forward to seeing this fixed

[Bhumika]

Hello Amy/Olivia, As your personal message is not enabled, I will have to convey the information here. The photo order set by the host may not be followed on the listing page, which is an expected outcome and not a bug. Could you send a recording, that displays this issue in a visual format? Though your doc was very detailed, a visual representation would help better.

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[Amy2476]

@Bhumika the issue here is not just about the photo order, but more severely the wrong photos used in the search result view. That is actually a violation of user data protection and I am going to continue to work with specialists on my end. Did anyone actually read the doc I sent https://tinyurl.com/Airbnbiosbug? Because there are both incorrect photos and expected/actual photos from the listing provided in the doc. So what other visual representation your team need? Lastly I simply don’t buy the statement of order doesn’t need to be respected, that seems to be a lame excuse of whoever is looking into this issue, because order is correctly respected on other platforms such as android. Order absolutely matters for optimizing clicks through rate, and if Airbnb makes an official statement that they are not going to respect the photo order in search result, guess what’s the PR implications this will have to all the listing owners.

[Bhumika]

Hello, @Amy2476 @Olivia756 .

I have noted everything and passed it on to the concerned team. I assure you that the concerned team had also read your detailed doc but had a few questions that needed to be answered, which should be now clear through your video link. Please note that I have removed your gmail id here as we do not recommend posting personal details on the CC as per the guidelines to keep you safe. I will keep you posted in case I receive any updates.

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[Amy2476]

@Bhumika Thank you very much for you help! The video I shared earlier clearly  showcased it is not just an order issue but a lot worse than that. Any listings with photo update could be hurt by this bug, the owners may not know now but they will find out. Also to call out that android app, mobile and desktop browsers all work correctly so this is really an iOS caching issue.