Problems with showing up on search results and instant book filter

[Diane218]

Hello! I haven't been on the forum for a while. 2022 was a very good year for us but 2023 is not looking so good! My one cabin property (see photo) has fallen off the search results even though I have a 4.94 rating and all 4.9's and 5.0's in the metrics, wonderful reviews, reasonable rates, and have been listed since 2016. The problems started with the change to the algorithm in May. For this one property I ended up having 50% of my income for 2022 come from VRBO which has never happened before as I was always well booked on Airbnb. So now if I run random dates that I know are available to book, I'll display many properties but not mine. For our area, as with others, we have more properties than ever before, yet the search results stop at page 15. Isn't that odd? You can't see the properties beyond the 15 pages unless you add filters. Leaving the guest with the impression that my property isn't available. But it is! Next issue I'm having is that I have instant book enabled. But if I search for instant book properties mine do not show up at all even filtering down to 200 or so properties and looking carefully through the search results the property does not display. So if someone searches for properties that allow instant book mine are excluded even though I have instant book enabled. Support has been working on this problem for a couple weeks now with no change. Has anyone else had either of these issues?

Laurelwood cabin 

[Lorna170]

@Diane218   It is possible that your listing will not show up on Instant book if you have added requirements that you as a traveler do not meet.  For example, before I had two reviews as a traveler, I could not see my property on instant book as I had checked that instant book guests have to have reviews.  I took that requirement off, and was able to see my property.  Then I put it back on as I was sure that guests would not see my property unless they met my criteria.

Of course, the Summer update has screwed over many hosts...my bookings from VRBO and other sources are far outstripping my AirBnB bookings.

[Huma0]

@Diane218 

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@Diane218 wrote:

Has anyone else had either of these issues?

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Yes, of course they have! Just do a search on this forum for 'summer release', 'winter release' and 'categories' and you will see hundreds, maybe thousands of comments on this subject already. 

The Summer Release in May decimated my views completely. Things did start to pick up a little later in the year, but since the Winter Release, enquiries and bookings have pretty much stopped again, even though this time it appears that I am getting views. My listings still do not appear on the map view unless I zoom in right over my house and even then, one of them is hidden.

I am intrigued though when you say support are working on the problem. I am not sure what CS is actually going to do about it. Airbnb chose to change its algorithm and, despite an uproar from hosts, has decided to continue down that path. It's not a glitch to be fixed, it's a strategy.

[Ana2038]

As @Huma0 stated,  the Summer, Winter Releases as well as the category feature really hit some of us host hard. We did pick up some and ended 2022 in a good spot, however, our views have gone down to zilch compared to similar listings. The new Insight page (frustrating to navigate) shows our listing far exceeds every category (quality, accuracy, cleanliness, location, value, conversion, rate) to similar listings in our area, yet our views have dropped off. Granted we have all of our weekends booked through March 2023 (booked since last year) but have plenty of days available throughout each month. The weekend/week/month feature does not allow potential guest to view all open days in the months. 

I don’t ever use the category feature when searching for a place to stay when traveling. I fear that I may be missing out on great places to stay if my vacation is not on a weekend, week or month long stay. In fact my travel dates are driven by air fare prices (lowest fare days to travel). If it’s cheaper to travel on a Sunday and return the following week on a Wednesday, then I’ll set my itinerary to those dates. But trying to find a place using the weekend, week or month feature will not work for me. 

I have gone incognito to see if my listing shows up and previous to the releases, our listing was always on the first page. Now we are sometimes shown on the 4th or 5th page behind other listings with higher rates, and lower ratings. Sometimes our listing doesn’t show at all. And I’m not about to drop my pricing or allow pets or children (due to waterfall feature in backyard) or cooking…etc…

Algorithm may have has its perks but it is not always the best way to go.