Listing Categories

[Edmund99]

Good morning Community Centre Colleagues

I remain unable to influence, persuade or otherwise instruct Customer Support team to include my two listings as being in the Bannau

Brycheiniog National Park, in Wales, UK, formerly Brecon Beacons, which was much easier to spell!.....(They are, by the way.....)

Messaging and calling CS results in the usual 'Case Closed' response, with no change to the exclusion of my listings from their most important and relevant category.

@Stephanie got me all excited with her promise to 'get it sorted', but sadly, although she was able to include my listings as having 'Amazing Views' (and not being 'Farms' ), their inclusion in the National Park category has defeated even her....thanks for trying Steph!

Has anyone else encountered this brick wall of bureaucracy/ignorance?  Does anyone know the magic formula?

I note that there exists a category called 'OMG!' - if abbreviations are to form part of the language of Categorisation, may I suggest 'FFS!' as a niche catagorisation for frustrated hosts.....

Edmund

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Edmund99 I blame the Welsh government. There is no way Airbnb folks will recognise the new name of your national park. Also I see lots of listings that are in the parks category but are 30miles from the Lake District. Perhaps you are just too close if you are actually in the park.

[Helen3]

I don't they rightly use their own language to name their own national parks @Mike-And-Jane0 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Helen3 As an ex marketing person it is a disastrous decision. To destroy an excellent brand for the sake of nationalism is cutting off the nose to spite the face.

[Helen3]

My day job is in comms and marketing

As you know lots of organisations successfully rebrand 

not sure why this rebranding won't work 

[Edmund99]

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Helen3   - we are told that the decision to rename the park was an effort to distance itself from the sins of our forefathers in that the original Brecon Beacons (both name and logo) celebrated the burning of fossil fuels (in the 'beacons' on the peaks of the hills to warn of marauding invaders....In fact, there seems to be little evidence that this was ever the case, and most folks just call it 'The Brecons' (which is even more inaccurate!)

Catherine Mealing-Jones, CEO, said of the re branding decision “As we went through the process of looking at the brand and thinking about the kind of park and organisation that we wanted to be, the old logo didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. We’re an environmental organisation, so a giant, carbon-burning brazier isn’t really a good look."  

Tomarto or Tamaido, The Bannau Brycheiniog National Park attracts around 4 million visitors annually and is the USP for our two cottages - I am dismayed that Airbnb seem to be completely unable to override their own AI system to reflect this fact.

[Edmund99]

Thank you @Mike0  - but consider this:

All these National Parks have listings on Airbnb

Białowieża National Park - Poland

Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park - Mongolia

Jiuzhaigou National Park - China

Jotunheimen National Park - Norway

Vatnajökull National Park - Iceland....

(To name but a few!)

.....and the national language of Wales is.....Welsh!

I don't blame anybody, but I do hold Airbnb accountable....

Edmund

[James2743]

The National Park category is particularly messed up. @Stephanie tried for mine as well but we got nowhere.

I am in a National Park but don't appear in the category. However places that are 59 miles away from the Park area do appear in it. It's amazingly frustrating!!!

[Edmund99 · Accepted solution]

Never Give Up @James2743 !!  Todays result....

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Edmund99 Good result.

[James2743]

So what was your successful route?

[Edmund99]

Hello @James2743 - in a word, persistence!  So much of dealing with Customer Support is down to chance - who picks up from their side....some folks want to solve the issue.

I called many times, opened many cases (and had them closed!), insisted that a Host Ambassador call me (which they did) and used the fact that 4 million folk a year visit the BB National Park, in an attempt to adopt a language perhaps more familiar to Airbnb.  I sent screen shots of Google maps showing the boundary of the Park, and the location of the cottages.  

The location of a property within a National Park is not a subjective point of view - it either is, or it is not.  It shouldn't require an upper specialist team and 3 weeks to determine this. 

I am still at a loss to understand why we are not 'allowed' the responsibility of categorizing our own listings, at least as a starting point.  It really wouldn't take long for reviews to spill the beans if it turned out that the accommodation categorized as being in close proximity to a beach proved to be incorrect!

Good luck

Edmund