What's Your Region?‌‌

[Ann72]

I've long been intrigued if not confused by the Airbnb search algorithm.  Why do so many guests, like @Emilia42's guests, want to stay at my place when they are bent on going to a national park an hour away?  There are many, many Airbnbs over there.  How do they find my place after they've typed in "Acadia, Maine" in the search bar?  How much of the search was influenced by guests who mentioned it in reviews or keywords from my listing?

Turns out Airbnb, unbeknownst to me, assigned a region when I first started hosting.  I found out by going to Performance -> Occupancy & Rates or Performance -> Conversion and choosing "Monthly Report" in the upper right corner.  The Excel spreadsheet that downloads lists your region between your listing title and your currency.

This isn't all bad, I suppose.  But it does cast even more doubt on the "location" star rating.  If we can't control the location's search parameters, why should we be marked down on that score?

My region is Acadia National Park.  What's yours?

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Ann72 , I would give you 12 likes  (one for each month) if I could right now, you and @Robin4 get the award for drilling down to the important stuff!   Seems I am in the Utica region although Im just about the same distance to Syracuse as Utica.   Im not sure what that means other than they have associated my listings with a less financially viable region than a more better one like SU, thats probably not that good for Bearpath Lodging!!!!!!     If i were to guess, were probably not able to redraw our districts without actually moving unlike our politicians that get to do with voting districts if they win.  Thanks for pointing that out to us, interesting data, just not sure what I can do with it yet.  Stay well, JR

[Ann72]

@Melodie-And-John0  Thank you, John!  It appears Bearpath Lodging finds its target audience just fine.  I'm not worried, just very curious, which is what always leads me down these paths.  I agree with @Robin4 that I couldn't have asked for more or better guests the way things are set up.  I've always thought it was quite incredible how people book my place, given how many choices they have!  

[Robin4]

@Ann72 

Yeah, I can't figure that either Ann, but your place is pretty special and incredibly desirable. My listing is just a humble converted 1950s garage in the back blocks of nowhere.....it's just a daggy old building, but I am fully booked! I have not had a month with more than 3 un-booked nights since August last year. I don't have an endless swimmer outside the cottage door, I don't have a manicured 18 hole golf course through a gate in the back fence but I do have guests literally climbing over each other to book here. The only thing I can put that down to is the reviews, if you try to go that extra mile I reckon it translates to money in the bank, in fact I am sure of it!

Cheers.........Rob

[Ann72]

@Robin4  And those reviews come from the experience you deliver!  Which in turn comes from your life experience and your knowledge of what goes into a great life experience every day.  Your guests respond to that and spread the word.  Simple!  🙂

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Ann72 , thats true, they do find us and that is truly amazing, from China, Australia, Britain, Germany, Canada, NYC and so many other places.  Airbnb actually filled in all the blanks we had when we considered becoming Inn Keeps in the decades of renovations before we actually opened our doors. 

[Robin4]

@Ann72 

Well I have discovered on a few occasions that I am in Mt Barker in Western Australia.....1,700 Kms from where I am actually located, in Mt Barker South Australia.

My feeling is, viewing guests are interested in the property, and the location (provided it is on their search page) is a minor consideration.

I have had guests book here and in the next breath ask me how far away from my property is MONA! For a while I did not know what they were talking about and then I discovered MONA stands for Museum of Old and New Art and is actually located in Hobart Tasmania almost 1,000 Kms from me!

https://mona.net.au/

Overseas travellers, particularly European have absolutely no concept of the distances that are involved in Australia!

But when someone is searching for a property within 150 Kms of Perth W.A. and my property pops up in their search page when it is almost 2,000 Kms away, something is definitely wrong!

Three years of complaint about this and half a dozen cancelled bookings has resulted in nothing being done.....zilch, zippo, goose egg, as Judge Judy would say!

So Ann just content yourself with the fact that the search algorithm will string together certain key indicators , even though they may be continents apart!

Cheers.........Rob

[M199]

@Ann72 

Thanks for starting this conversation.  I wasn't aware of the "region", but now have looked at mine.  So I guess that I wasn't surprised to find my cottage was listed in Owen Sound, Ontario.  The cottage is about 40 km away.  Owen Sound is the next biggest city to our cottage, may be a factor.  As a note, in my guidebook, I have a list of "Distance to/from" the cottage and local small towns. I list guest home cities based on where previous guests has driven from.  So for example, Brampton to Wiarton, approximately 200km.  So, if the guests actually read it, then at least is give them an idea of distances that they may have to travel.

[Anonymous]

@Ann72  Great detective work there!  

This is one more thing we can add to the list of Airbnb's blind spots for rural listings. Their product is very finely tuned to urban locations, but the algorithm has a bizarre way of gerrymandering the hinterlands. 

I'd love to see all these regions plotted out on a map. In Europe, they seem to often overlap national borders, which is especially odd when they close.

[Ann72]

"Gerrymandering" is le mot juste, @Anonymous 

[Lawrene0]

Thank you, @Ann72 ! My report has me in Sarnia, a city that is an hour away and perched on the Canada-US border. 

It doesn't explain every odd inquiry I've had, but it does a good whack of them. 

[Anonymous]

@Lawrene0  I initially read that as "Narnia."

My report has me in Berlin. No accuracy problems there. But as long as I'm closed for bookings due to Corona, I'd prefer my location to be listed as Cockermouth.

[Lawrene0]

Sarnia's nickname is "Chemical Valley", which tells you nearly everything you need to know about it. 

Oh yes, I'd much prefer my location be listed as Narnia. 

I guess our preferences are why they don't let us choose our own, @Anonymous . 😉