Hosts are duplicating their listings to gain more exposure.

[Glenda35]

Hi fellow hosts,

I am wondering if anyone else is aware that hosts are able to have their listing appear more than once in the search. I was scrolling through listings in my area of the Gold Coast and found several identical properties listed twice and even three times.

Does anyone else agree with my opinion that this appears to give those listings an unfair advantage getting more exposure?

I contacted Airbnb about this and this is the reply I received. "in line with your concern, some hosts accidentally created duplicate accounts. We understand this can cause a few different issues. At this time we are not able to merge accounts, instead we ask them to delete the duplicate.

So Airbnb don't have the technical ability to prevent this happening, so they need to rely on the hosts that are "accidentally" increasing the  likelihood of more bookings, to voluntarily delete the duplicate. 

Bookings have been a bit slow so I thanked Airbnb for the tip and thought I'd share this with my fellow hosts.

Happy duplicating.

Glenda  Gold Coast Queensland Australia

[Linda108]

I am not sure that multiple listings for the exact same listing result in a greater advantage.  If you have ever been a guest and engaged the search function, you will not experience that this listing has an advantage.  System glitches are a pain, but I think this one is not resulting in an unfair advantage. 😄

[Robin4 · Accepted solution]

@Glenda35

It is possible that it is not multi-listing in the way you have mentioned Glenda. 

It could be that the host has 2 or three listings within the one property and used the same photos and description for each. A closer look may reveal a difference between each listing.

This of course may not be the case, but it is an alternate suggestion.

Cheers......Rob

[Kelly149]

I have one space but two listings. They have different rules/amenities and are therefore priced & booked differently. Not trying to be sneaky but was best I could do with how abb allows parameters & pricing to be set

[Victoria567]

@Glen27da

Air bnb does not let you press the 2 bedroom option in a family home, without the price being displayed, as the price for one bedroom, when in fact it’s 2 bedrooms....I got stung by this, in the first few months of my hosting becoming live.

Therefore the host with 2 bedrooms ( which may be booked by 2 different sets of couples, not related nor in the same guest party) has to list bedroom One as one separate  listing, bedroom Two, as another separate listing, and the 2 bedrooms together if hosting a party of 4 guests in total as another listing.....making 3 listings!

Then you have to co ordinate your now 3 existing calendars,to prevent double booking possibilities.

Its not a case of more exposure, on purpose by a host, it’s the Airbnb accommodation set up!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Glenda35

we have :

- studio apartment

- 2 bedrooms apartment

- and 3 bedrooms apartment (unlisted at the moment but basically it is studio + 2 bdr apartment listed together as one)

In searches last two listings seemed the same because the main picture was the same.