Place to stay vs private room

[Elisa4168]

My listing is a private room with detached bathroom and access to shared spaces. Airbnb Support confirmed they updated my listing to Room; however, when using the search page, my listing says 'a place to stay' and is removed when filtering by Room. I've spent 3 days with Support and I just keep getting passed to the next representative. This sounds like a backend error. Is this a known issue? 

[Joan2709]

@Elisa4168 

Yes...this is a known bug that Airbnb has not addressed. This happened because Airbnb removed Categories in April 2025 and the Room Category must have been tied to the Guest Search Filter for "Room"

You'll need to add your listing to the Room Category to fix the issue, as Airbnb hasn't corrected the coding. Here is the Host Guide on how to do that:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-guides/Room-Hosts-Make-Sure-You-Are-in-Rooms-Category/td-p/...

[Bhumika]

Hi @Elisa4168 , would it be possible for you to share a screen recording via a public google drive link,  when trying to search your room listing? It will help me to bring it to the technical team. 

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Regards,

[Elisa4168]

Thanks to @Joan2709 , i was able to find my way to Elevate to request removal of Lake category (which was added automatically) and add the Private Rooms/Rooms category. FYI Airbnb should make it easier and actually findable to get from the Airbnb app to Elevate - Categories. 

They say it could take up to 15 days to correct the issue, so if I dont see any progress I'll reach back out @Bhumika 

[Joan2709]

@Elisa4168 

It usually doesn't take 15 days...

Keep an eye on the categories section of your Listing Editor/Property Type/Category:

[Elisa4168]

Yes! will do. I noticed that it had assigned Lake but theres no action to change it from the app. Thanks again for the clue on Elevate.

[Joan2709]

@Elisa4168 

Airbnb must only allow access to Elevate from the desktop now...

[Bhumika]

Thanks for updating us @Elisa4168 ! Please give us a shout if you see that there's a further issue 🌻 I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

[Elisa4168]

Help this is insane and frustrating. Elevate denied my request for private room/room categories with no reason, no recourse and no ability to request again review again. My room still doesn’t appear when filtering for a room and we are literally the only “place to stay” in our whole city. 

[Joan2709]

@Elisa4168 

Yup...that's a problem. Could you please post a screen shot of showing Elevate's denial of the Room category here? 

@Bhumika could you forward this to Airbnb? Since @Elisa4168 's listing is obviously a "room" they need to fix the bug they have and/or any issues with Elevate in connection with this. 

Numerous Hosts posting about this and it is in both Airbnb's and Hosts interests to fix this. Guests are searching using the Room filter but listings are NOT appearing in searches when they should.

[Bhumika]

Thanks for the tag @Joan2709 . I have made sure to pass over @Elisa4168 and Arthur's issue from the other thread to the relevant team.

Both of us,  myself and @Rebecca are keeping an eye on this one 🌻

[Joan2709]

@Bhumika 

Some of the listings I'm seeing probably should be a Guest Suite Property Type and NOT a room. Airbnb says to be categorized as a room they must share at least one of these spaces with guests:

Kitchen

Bathroom

Living Room

Otherwise, the Host should choose Guest Suite as property type - not "Room". 

[Arthur728]

Thank you Bhumika! Just as an FYI, this problem is incredibly widespread. If you go on Airbnb and look for properties based on their prices being lower, you'll find tons of listings that are rooms when you click on them. But then when you click the room filter, they all disappear. I've been waiting 5 days for elevate to give me some feedback on adding the room category but all I can do is continue to wait.

[Joan2709]

@Arthur728 

See my response to your other post....

After looking at your listing, since you don't share a bathroom, kitchen, or living room with guests, your property type should probably be guest suite and not room. It doesn't look like you meet the requirements for "Room" per Airbnb:

Airbnb requirements for Room Category

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3400

[Arthur728]

Guests share all of the house except for the private room and private bathroom. I added pictures today to show that they share the living room. But they never ask you anywhere if any of those spaces are shared so the only way I know to tell them that they are shared is to add a picture. Weird thing is this was not required on my first two room listings.