Airbnb Map Search since Summer 2022 Release

[Richard264]

I think we’ve all heard of the issues associated with Airbnb’s new functionality “Categories” released last month. Those have been previously well documented within this group. And while I had heard of issues related to map searching and properties appearing and disappearing at random… I was a bit of a sceptic… that was until this morning.

As I get ready to relist our property for the summer season in the Peak 7 neighborhood of Summit County, CO… I thought I would do a little experiment. In the screenshots attached to this post… all of the search criteria (dates, # of guests, category) and filters (bedrooms, beds, hot tub, price range) are the same. Watch what happens in the blue box as I nudge the map a couple millimeters at a time. Be mindful that there are relevant properties in that blue box.

SCREENSHOT 1

Map area roughly lines up with Airport Rd (Breckenridge) to the east and covers a large percentage of the Peak 7 neighborhood going west. Only 3 listings are shown.

SCREENSHOT 2

I nudged the map a couple millimeters further west… Airport Rd falls off the map to the east. The same 3 listings are still shown.

SCREENSHOT 3

I nudged the map a couple more millimeters further west. Now I get 4 new listings displayed. Please keep in mind that these 4 listings should have been displayed in the first 2 screenshots as they were within the field of view of the map. Also notice that the original 3 listings are now gone… even though they are still in the field of view of the map.

SCREENSHOT 4

I zoomed out to pickup some of downtown Breckenridge… plus the base ski areas of Peak 8 and Peak 7. My price range (less than $267/night) is probably excluding most of the base area listings as well as downtown Breckenridge… but it’s interesting that I am now seeing 16 listings for the Peak 7 neighborhood… which is probably about the right number. What’s crazy is that most of these 16 listings should have also shown up in the previous 3 screenshots

Does anyone have comments on this or additional information on this issue?

[Debra300]

@Richard264,

Your findings are quite interesting, but I have nothing to provide as a feasible answer.  I am just commenting to bump your thread to Recent tab so others can see it.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

No wonder so many hosts said their listings are invisible and bookings have dropped

I made a similar test a few years ago and noticed the map shows only listings closer to the city center and if I moved the map east or west from the city center then only listings on the side of the map were shown while the center and another side of the map were empty, like there were no Airbnbs there.

Later, Airbnb made some changes and it was better... until now

[Emiel1]

@Richard264 

- Moving/zooming on the map means a change of coordinates. Look at the URL in the address field to see them. This goes in certain steps, so a small move on the map can result in bigger change of coordinates.

- The way you are searching is tracked, it is a dynamic (not static) process. For example: If you click in between on a listing, it can affect next display of results. We do not know the AI behind it....

[Laura5507]

My bookings were down 85% on one of my properties last month! I don’t know exactly what is going on, but we need them to fix the problem fast! Unless their intent is for us to remove listing and do LTR which I am considering if this doesn’t resolve soon

[Huma0]

@Laura5507 

But are they going to fix it fast? I am not so sure. On the one hand, we are being told by the moderators here on the CC that our feedback is being relayed to Airbnb. On the other hand, we are being told that many more categories will be added. We know that the categories are problematic (I have tried to do searches in London and been directed to France instead, as if there's nothing available in here!), but what is even more problematic is listings disappearing even when you try to do a traditional search and even when zooming in on a map. 

When I checked just now, I can see that the average page views for my listings are are down by -2,790 compared to the previous month. That's huge. I list private rooms in my own home for long term stays, so I don't need for many of the views to convert to actual bookings, but clearly hardly anyone is seeing my listings at all.

In the past two weeks, I've had one enquiry (yesterday) and zero bookings, and since the launch, I've had 0 enquiries, let alone bookings, for what was my most popular and most viewed room. In the past month, that room has received 246 views, but I can almost guarantee that those were from the few days before the launch, as you can see the views drop after that on the chart. The previous month, the room had 2,530 views.

Luckily, I already had bookings for this summer but, by this point, I would expect to be getting bookings for the autumn too. So, yes, I am also probably going to have to switch to LTR or something as well as there aren't really any platforms operating here that are suitable for homestays.  I pay Airbnb a commission for advertising my listings and Airbnb is currently doing a very, very poor job of that.

[Richard531]

This is a fantastic observation and an even better explanation of what you're perplexingly observing.

Yes, I feel like I'm seeing the same type of behavior when I do my own putzing around as an incognito guest.  And I don't like it.

I absolutely have faith in Airbnb.  They want to get guests booking more places as quickly and as easily as possible.  This will get figured out!  I just hope it's sooner than later!

[Richard264]

Rich… I wish I had your faith that this will be fixed… but after trying to get some serious sales and lodging tax issues addressed here in Colorado… I’m not so sure.  For the last 2.5 years… I have opened a dozen support tickets, tweeted about the issue, emailed the CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, and every single Airbnb resource on LinkedIn with “indirect tax” indicated in their profile… and still the issue persists. What is it you ask? Guests in many unincorporated County properties throughout Colorado are being charged municipal sales and lodging taxes that they don’t owe. I have 500 documented listings in just two counties where guests are being overcharged between 6 to 10% in taxes not owed. These aren’t cheap places either. My evidence includes places just outside of Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, and Beaver Creek. It’s a mess, and I keep being told “We are so busy”. 

[Richard2341]

I hope you are right, but it has been 3 or 4 weeks now. Just like others have said, my page views and bookings have crated. 400+ views a day to 10. My house is not in any category and i have no information on how to get it into a catagory.

If some listings like ours are being harmed, others out there must be benefitting from this.

[Huma0]

---

@Richard2341 wrote:

If some listings like ours are being harmed, others out there must be benefitting from this.

---

That might be the case. Who knows? When a guest and I searched a couple of days ago for listings in South London for a week long stay in August, the results were extremely limited. When zooming in on my neighbourhood, a lot more suddenly showed up, but the choice was not great. They were either super expensive or affordable but really basic and overpriced.

The search function is clearly screwed, but perhaps also the decent results that would have shown up have already been booked because that was the best the guests were seeing. I noticed that the options that were showing were not peppered with 'rare finds' which is what I would have expected to see in the past. Now it is only showing the dregs, and the guest has no idea that there are actually better options available. This particular guest told me that, based on those search results, there was nothing there that he would book. He is a fairly new user (only stayed in one Airbnb before mine) so would not have hesitated to look for accommodation on a different site or booked a hotel instead.

[Carrick1]

What I have noticed with my own listing is that when i search by the name of my city, it's really difficult in many cases to find my listing. However if I just search my town by scanning the map area of my city, I am one of the top listings. It's not even like I'm getting pushed down by out of town results when I search in the default way, I just get a far worse ranking relative to other listings in my area. I have absolutely no idea why this is.

I've also noticed that when doing searches there are glitches that cause your listing to disappear entirely. For example on mine I did a search of a specific upcoming set of dates and couldn't find my listing. When I returned to the first page to start my search over, my listing appeared near the top. I got confused and assumed I had just missed it the first time around but when I did a fresh search I didn't show up again. So I either show up on the first page or not at all. I can't make any sense of it and I find the entire thing highly frustrating.

[Janeris0]

My views the last 30 days have decreased by over 2100. I’m priced within the market and it should be busy season in Florida. But when I search for my city Cape Coral, it takes me to random Florida beach towns. I get what they were trying to do but if I’m going to Miami to visit family or for a graduation, I don’t need listings in Georgia. Just do what I need. Not everyone is traveling to work remotely anywhere in the world  and there needs to be an option to stay in the area you searched for. 

[Richard264]

I’ve been doing a little more testing with this issue today, and it appears to primarily happen on my Airbnb iPhone app. When I do some testing on my laptop running the chrome browser, all the potential listings in the map area appear to be displayed.

Has anyone else noticed that phenomenon?

[Mark-and-Gabriela0]

All reservations stopped only some luxury ones stay, every guest now  needs to look for a category, but it doesn’t mean your place will be under the proper one.

ALL HOMES category ONLY appears in a computer, not in the APP

please write, complain, tell your worries, we’re all in this boat

renting are blooming, hotels are packed, best season in 10 years!!!

ONLY AIRBNB HOSTS ARE SINKING WITH US ABOARD

[Solveig0]

I have the same. I search in my area (a name that is both a county and a town), and it shows a skewed map area focusing on the outer, left, edges of the county.

The town with the name of the county isn't shown at all (most people wouldn't know that the left area is that country, its associated with a different name), and none of the listings in the proximity of that town, only listings at least 30-45 minutes away. 

I don't understand the logic?