Listing Buried After It Was Snoozed During the Pandemic

[Vladislav38]

Hi all,

I am a superhost with a couple of listings. I suspended one of them, my Budapest listing, for about 14 months during the pandemic and now it has been back for the last about month and a half. It has 4.79 overall score out of more than a hundred reviews. The listing is very central, can accommodate up to eight people and used to be very popular before the pandemic and always very well booked/perfectly booked in the summer. Since I resumed it, so far it has gotten 50 views, 28 out of which are from some price promotions that I put in place in the calendar. I should mention also that the price to stay in my place is well below average in an effort to get the listing going again.

When I look for it in private search, with a very specific type of search - a place for 8 people, for a whole week, it only shows up if I zoom in on my street to the maximum zoom allowed. Even one click of zoom out on the map removes it from the map. If I am not fully zoomed in, but still zoomed in in an area of 500 meter radius, I'd need to scroll to page 15 to find it - the algorithm suggests places that are way further out of my search area, in what seems like an arduous effort not to show my listing.

I understand that there is no way to know how good the market is right now, I understand that this is a free market and that Budapest has proper competition in it and everyone wants to be on top. It is very obvious to the naked eye to see that Airbnb will show my listing only if it absolutely has to. I am curious to know if anyone has any insight if there is a penalty for having snoozed the listing or anything of that sort that I cannot think of. Just so that I am clear, I both don't think that this is "a conspiracy against me" and at the same time it is very obvious that some cardinal action against my listing has been silently triggered by the algorithm.

[Ann72]

@Vladislav38  @William810 is right.  If other places have been getting clicks and views the whole time, they've been pushed up in the rankings.  Your place will re-accumulate its clicks and views and move up.  Ideas for nudging it include being counterintuitive about your price and doubling the average (no one spent money last year and they want to spend it this year), making a change to your listing every day, using Smart Pricing and Instant Book (don't make a face - be smart about Smart Pricing by keeping your minimum high - it doesn't matter what happens after that, the point is that the algo likes listings that use all the tools possible), and stop worrying.

[Vladislav38]

@William810 , @Ann72  Thank you both for the feedback. Especially Ann - for the practical suggestions, too.

I personally don't think that Airbnb's policy to punish listings so harshly for being away is *fair*. Of course, some *points* should be taken off as *loyalty* should definitely be a ranking factor. The fact that the response of the system is literal *burying* of the listing rather than a smaller punishment to me is a symptom of Airbnb still being a relative monopoly in the space and being able to afford themselves to do that - it probably makes sense from their point of view and helps some *coercion* to stay on the platform. All of this, of course, if we assume that indeed I got punished so harshly solely for my absence.

The analogy with lap racing is completely arbitrary - I could say that this is more like riding a bicycle - once you become good at it, you don't lose your skill, and when you pick it up one year later, after a couple of days you are just as a smooth biker. So Airbnb should promote these beautiful listings that were doing well before and providing great service on their platform and haven't "forgotten how to bike". Choosing such a convenient comparison such as lap racing assumes that a huge part of the competition, between us hosts, is loyalty, and always staying on the race track, which makes sense for Airbnb's business model (keeping listings in) but doesn't make so much sense from the end customer's point of view I think.

Bottom line - thank you for the input, confirming my suspicion and giving me some tips. Cheers!

[Ann72]

Fascinating - I hadn't thought of the manipulation at work here @Vladislav38.  I assume it's all part of game theory, getting us to behave in ways that best serve the corporate platform.  And I certainly hadn't thought of the excellent point you make about rewarding loyalty.  A machine doesn't recognize loyalty in someone who's gone on hiatus, but it could be trained to recognize something that's snoozed during a pandemic vs. something that's been delisted or deleted. Superhost status, which requires a somewhat steady presence, is one way loyalty is recognized here.  But Airbnb doesn't take it a step farther and give Superhosts a ranking advantage.

I guess the best practice is to manipulate the platform to your own advantage.

[Vladislav38]

@Ann72 - I am glad that I was able to provide a different perspective. I am not claiming that I am right, just speculating off of the limited data I have on this case.

To reinforce my speculation, on the date that the first trip was completed and the guests left a review (I was lucky to get a booking at all, during a month and a half of close to 0 views, huge promotions and almost 0 exposure; I got the booking during a F1 race weekend in the city where I am hosting), I got two new bookings immediately:) 2 bookings in one day, compared to 1 booking for a month and a half before:) The algorithm is what it is, just saying, there was a freaking pandemic, I took care my income by having long term tenants for a bit over a year, and it feels like I was buried. Not complaining, just sharing:) Have a good weekend, all:)