inconsistencies in search criteria

[Roger1071]

I have a listing in cape town for 8 guests, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms marked as available except for a week in august. If i search cape town for 4 guests in june for two weeks, there are fifteen pages returned and my property is not amongst them. If i look at the map for camps bay ( at the location of my property) there is no flag - what could be going wrong - any ideas ? 

[Paula]

Hello @Roger1071, welcome to our community!

I'm tagging some of our experienced Hosts to see if they would like to share their insights on your question related to search criteria: @Joan2709 , @Joelle43, and @Patricia2526.

Best regards 😊

[Joan2709]

Hi @Roger1071 

Could you post a link to your listing here? Your profile shows "Guest" and we aren't able to see your property listing.

[Roger1071]

hi,  My agent is the host 

the link is 

https://www.airbnb.com/slink/WaA8apOd

thanks in advance for assistance

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Roger1071 

Luv  your place! I took a quick look using the link you sent. I then did a guest search and couldn't find your listing. A couple of things may be happening:

Your Listing Was Inactive For A Long Period

There is a big gap in reviews? Looks like your last review was Jan 2024 and the one before that was Jan 2023? The Airbnb algorithm gives preference to active listings with good reviews. Alot of changes were made to the platform; especially changes in the Summer 2023 software release.

Suggestions for updating the listing to show it's active:

Photos

Update and consider adding some photos. Add captions on every photo. You might try this photo as your cover photo:

Missing Sections of Listing

Noticed some sections of the Listing are missing? Airbnb gives "points" in the algorithm for a complete listing. I would update/add these sections. Under Description: add Guest Access, Interaction With Guests and Other Details to Note. Under Location I would add Neighborhood Description and Getting Around.

Update Amenities Section

Go through the entire amenities section and be sure you have all your amenities listed and complete all the amenities that have the pencil icon for you to add text or check addl items. 

Try Updating Your Title

Something that highlights the best amenities of your listing. Try:

 "Bay Views Villa | Walk to Pubs/Restaurants"

Update Calendar Prices

Regularly update your calendar prices; even if only by one dollar. Consider running Custom Promotions as Airbnb gives priority to listings that use them:

How to Create Custom Promotions

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2982

Min Stay

You have a min stay of 3 nights. You might consider lowering that to 2nights in your slow season to get more eyes on the listing, as it will appear more often in search results. I would do all the other updates to the listing and if you're not seeing an uptick in bookings, try a 2night min stay if that is feasible for you.

Airbnb's New Map Search Algorithm - Location

Airbnb has changed the Search Results map algorithm as of the Summer 2023 release. It has caused many headaches for hosts that have listings outside a larger city or town. In your case, when I search for listings in Cape Town, there is only one listing that appears on the map near Camps Bay. Even with zooming in on the map, your listing did not appear. Partly that is due to lack of bookings and inactivity, but also due to the listing not appearing in initial map search results. Many Hosts have had to list on another platform (like Vrbo), in order for their listing to be seen by potential guests. 

[Roger1071]

thank you for the tips  - we'll get started immediately

[Joan2709]

@Roger1071 

Let us know how it goes 😊

You could also try in the Title how long to walk to beach & Mountain Views:

Ocean & Mtn Views | XXmin Walk to Beach/Restaurants

I would try getting a view of the ocean from the pool with pool in foreground? Is that possible? I would make that your cover. If you have nice lighting outside, I would try a twilight photo also with all the lights on inside/outside.

[Patricia2526]

Hi @Roger1071  

It seems like you don’t have active listing under your account. If you haven’t already published your listing, the quickest way to proceed with this is to take the following steps:

1. Tap Profile

   and then tap Switch to hosting

   Tap Listings

   , and select the listing you want to edit

   Under Listing editor, tap Your space, Tap Status
   Tap Listed, and then tap List your place

Once you change your status to Listed it's usually visible within 24 hours, but it may take up to 72 hours for this update to be reflected in search results.

Best Regards