Re: Change / Bug in the search - listings not appe... - Page 2

Trinette---Chris0 · ‎03-10-2021

I have tried emailing Airbnb on multiple occasions about a bug that appeared in the general search a few months ago in June of 2021, and they always blow me off and do not respond to my concerns about it and tell me it is supposed to be this way. I can not make sense of why they would make this change in search.

I am curious if this is just impacting my area in Sonoma wine country of California or if it is impacting other searches too. I encourage others to experiment with searches in their area to see if their listing is being impacted by this change that happened in the general search around June.

My listing can be found IF and only if you put in specific dates that are available, or if you use the map, or if you use filters, but it does NOT appear anymore in a “general search” anymore, meaning a guest does a search for my area but does not put in dates or filters. My bookings are way down as a result of this bug and I can not get anyone to pay attention to it. I have had guests contact me offline outside of Airbnb multiple times because they can’t find my listing anymore on Airbnb in the general search and they think I removed my listing. I have not removed my listing.

Here are some searches you can do to verify this for my specific area: (try this in your area too)

-Search Sebastopol, CA with no dates, you get 66 to 72 results, and my listing does not appear in the search at all. (I used to always appear in the first few pages of this search for the last 4 years)

-Search Sebastopol, CA with Jan 25th to 27th, 2021 dates, you get over 300 results and my listing is the first listing (as of today as it is currently available those dates). If you are viewing this later then this month you may have to put in dates a few months ahead to see this. This result makes no sense. The first general search should return more homes than a specific date search, this same general search used to return 300 results in the general search without dates, now it returns less than a third of the actual available homes that are available in the area and our bookings reflect this. It’s not just my listing, it is hundreds of homes in the area that are being impacted by this change in the search. I think what is happening is it is now returning only homes located in the city limits of Sebastopol for the general search.

-Search Occidental (which is a town that is further away than Sebastopol, and yet, we come up first in that general search even though that town is further away, yet we do not appear at all in the Sebastopol general search anymore which is what most people coming to the area search for as it is the largest main town in the area)

I am wondering if they changed something around areas/ towns for the general search, like if a town has a certain number of listings, then it only shows the listings in the general search that are in the city limits, and nothing outside of it and then if a town is smaller then they will show listings outside of the town? We are located about 5 minutes outside of the town of Sebastopol, so we are not within the city limits but we are in the area and always appeared at the top of the search for that area before June of this year. Does anyone have any info on this?

If so, why would they want 300 listings to show up for specific dates, but for a general search they only show a 1/3 of the listings? What is the logic and reason behind this? It seems in reverse to me as a guest. If I don’t put in dates and I am just looking for an amazing place to say and I am flexible on when I could stay, wouldn’t I want to see ALL the listings of an area, not just 1/3 of them, 72 listings? And then I put in dates, and then they show me all the listings showing me over 300 listings. I can’t make sense of this change in search and why they would do this.

We are typically booked out many months in advance and we have definitely noticed a big drop off for winter bookings since this change was made in June. I know some of our bookings still come from doing a specific dates search or filter search, but I know we are losing some bookings for those who just do general searches and guests not being able to find us anymore in the general search as I have never had anyone contact us offline in the 5 years I have been a superhost and say they could not find our listing anymore until after this change happened in June of this year.

I would appreciate any insight or feedback on this issue that anyone has! What am I missing here? Thank you!

Viviane80 · ‎16-10-2021

We can confirm what Trinette and Chris are saying about this search change/bug is true.

We also live in the Sebastopol, CA area... and our listing has always appeared in that general search near the top. Now it does not appear *at all* in that same search (despite our having a perfect 100% 5-star guest rating, like Trinette, with 100% rave reviews). We too have noticed a big drop in our bookings in the last few months (presumably since this change was made).

Looking at the map that accompanies a search under “Sebastopol”, it’s immediately clear that they are now strictly limiting the results to the actual town limits (they are probably using some geofencing service). This appears to be the case not just for our area. Why do some towns / cities use a wider mapping area to show listings for general search and why do some towns use a very small mapping area excluding so many of the listings nearby for an area?

If we do a general search for “Sebastopol, CA” we do not appear at all in the search results. This is very troubling because Airbnb *must* be aware that people looking to stay in prized vacation areas like Wind Country often look first for *places* that appeal to them, rather than necessarily dates. This is not a hotel/business community, it is one where people go to celebrate special occasions with special people (and of course to taste wine). In our part of the County, it is vacation and tourism.

If we do a “three night date search” for specific dates for “Sebastopol, CA”, we are the very first listing in the search.

Why does the search omit us for a general search or using a filter search, but shows our listing only when searching for specific dates? It seems to be taking a wider search result on the map if dates are used and a very narrow search result on the map if a general search is done without dates. This does not make sense.

This change makes no sense -- business or otherwise. It is really affecting our bookings (and our ability to be successful hosts). It's not good for guests either: they are being deprived of the opportunity to choose from some of the most desirable properties that are actually available, like ours and Trinette and Chris's.

I hope that Airbnb will take this issue seriously and correct this as soon as possible, it is really impacting our income and ability to be successful hosts in our area in a negative way.

Trinette---Chris0 · ‎23-10-2021

So I was finally able to reach someone higher up at Airbnb to actually look into this issue and talk to the search team. Here is what I learned.

They did confirm that this change in search happened around June. They also confirmed it is undated and filter searches that are impacted, not dated searches. Dated searches remain unchanged. They said it was an intentional change to make some areas tight on the undated search and others wider to give more relevant search results. They said it depends on the number of listings in an area if it shows a tight undated search or a wider undated search to guests. Some areas show wider search area results for both undated and dated search (which is how it has always been up until June of 2021 for all areas) while some of the areas like my area have now changed to be tighter searches for undated or filter searches but remains unchanged for the dated search.

I can see that our monthly views for our listing (look in your dashboard at insights) went down starting in July by about 30% or 1,000 views per month or more once this change was implemented. Ironically, Airbnb shows me in my app dashboard that searches in my local area are up by 47% from last year to this year, yet my views on my listing are down 30% or more even with an increase of 47% search in my area. My future bookings are down too. This is the metric that shows the impact this major search change is having on hosts who live in these areas where they decided to change the search to exclude their listings. They have excluded my listing in the local area where I live while they are also letting me know in my dashboard that searches for my local area has increased by 47%. Ouch, that hurts to read every time I open my dashboard. Too bad I am not in that local search anymore.

We live in a really tiny town that no one has ever heard of in wine country in California. Most guests who come to the area want to stay in the general area, not specifically in the city limits of the biggest town in our area. Airbnb is now only showing guests listings inside the city limits of the town we live near, which is five minutes away. So I imagine these kinds of properties that are just outside of city limits are the ones most impacted by this search change. The bottom line is if you live in an area like this, you are now being penalized in the search. If you live within the city limits, you are good, if not, you are at a big disadvantage as only guests who put in specific dates will see your listing going forward.

They did not respond to my specific questions about this issue or the metrics I shared above or address the issues I brought up about how this is impacting me as a host.

If you have noticed getting less bookings this year than last (after July 2021) and if you notice your cancellations are not filling up as fast, you should look to see if your listing falls under these new changes.

To see if you live in one of these areas being impacted by this major search change this year, there is an easy way to tell.

1. Do an undated unfiltered search for the town near your area. (For example if you live outside of the city limits of an area or near a larger town, put the name of the town in search that you want to see if you are included in, the one that most guests would likely search for if they were coming to your area)

2. See if your listing shows up in the results. If it does, then you are good and your listing is not impacted by this new search change. You will show up for both undated and dated searches for your area.

3. If you did not show up in that first search, do a new search for specific dates that are a few months away (that you know are available in your calendar) If you show up in this search, but not in the first undated search, then you know your listing was impacted by this change that was made in search. Guests will no longer see your listing in a general undated search and filter search and you will likely have a harder time filling cancellations as guests now have to put in very specific dates in order to see your listing for your area.

If you do not agree with this new search change and what them to change it back to the way it was to show more listings in a general area for both undated search and dates searches, and if you think it does not help guests or hosts to only show guests a small fraction of listings available for a local area for undated searches, please speak up and give feedback to Airbnb by filling out the info in this link and contact customer service as well and ask them to pass the feedback onto management. https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

Every other search engine that I know of shows you “more” listings in an undated general search and “less” listings in a date specific search. The more parameters you add into a search engine, your search should get more tight, but Airbnb has decided to do the exact opposite and show guests “less” listings in a undated general search and “more” listings in a dated search (only for some areas). This still makes no sense to me at all, and I am disappointed that they do not seem to care how hosts are being impacted by this major change in the search that happened around June of 2021. I give up as I have done everything I can do speak up about this and how it is impacting our listing and our ability to be successful hosts, but have been totally ignored. I hope others will speak up as well to Airbnb and let them know how they feel about these major changes to the search and how it may be impacting your listing. @Airbnb

Trinette---Chris0 · ‎23-10-2021

So I was finally able to reach someone higher up at Airbnb to actually look into this issue and talk to the search team. Here is what I learned.

They did confirm that this change in search happened around June. They also confirmed it is undated and filter searches that are impacted, not dated searches. Dated searches remain unchanged. They said it was an intentional change to make some areas tight on the undated search and others wider to give more relevant search results. They said it depends on the number of listings in an area if it shows a tight undated search or a wider undated search to guests. Some areas show wider search area results for both undated and dated search (which is how it has always been up until June of 2021 for all areas) while some of the areas like my area have now changed to be tighter searches for undated or filter searches but remains unchanged for the dated search.

I can see that our monthly views for our listing (look in your dashboard at insights) went down starting in July by about 30% or 1,000 views per month or more once this change was implemented. Ironically, Airbnb shows me in my app dashboard that searches in my local area are up by 47% from last year to this year, yet my views on my listing are down 30% or more even with an increase of 47% search in my area. My future bookings are down too. This is the metric that shows the impact this major search change is having on hosts who live in these areas where they decided to change the search to exclude their listings. They have excluded my listing in the local area where I live while they are also letting me know in my dashboard that searches for my local area has increased by 47%. Ouch, that hurts to read every time I open my dashboard since I am not showing up for some of those searches anymore.