Custom Listing Titles Coming Back

[M199]

@Mike-And-Jane0, @Inna22 , @Kate867 , @Helen427 , @Huma0 

All, check your notifications on your app or browser.

Apparently, Airbnb sent June 11 that they are reinstating Hosts listing descriptions starting June 30.  AND an explanation was given.

[Inna22]

@M199 I am not following. I have everything custom already

[Huma0]

@Inna22 

Airbnb made some changes with the Summer Release. So, while your listing shows your custom title, that is not necessarily how it is showing up in searches. Instead, in the searches, the titles appear as generic rather than custom. See the link I posted below for more detail.

There was a lot of protest over this, so Airbnb announced they were returning to the custom title format in searches from beginning of July.

[Inna22]

@Huma0 @M199 this is now starting to make so much more sense! I looked for a place in Minnesota recently and all titles seemed so generic, it was odd. I thought they were all owned by a same big company or people in Minnesota have no imagination 😉

[Huma0]

@Inna22 

The poor people of Minnesota have been misrepresented! 

I bet you were not the only person though that did a search, in Minnesota or anywhere else, that left with the same impression.

Airbnb's thinking was that guests would prefer the more standardised titles, but I'm not convinced by that. In areas where there are a lot of listings, guests need to see some differentiation in order to narrow down the results.

Another problem has not been showing the number of reviews, so a listing with 1 x 5* will look better than a listing which has 500 reviews, mostly 5* but averages 4.99*. That will show as 4.9* without any indication of how many reviews make up that number.

[Inna22]

The poor people of Minnesota have been misrepresented!  you are too funny!

I like the custom titles so I do not keep clicking on the same listing I already decided was not going to work for me over and over again, it helps me remember the difference

[Annie1372]

@M199 

All the info is here https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/new-guidelines-for-writing-your-listing-title-533...

[Huma0]

@M199 

I haven't seen anything in my notifications, but I am guessing you mean the same thing as this announcement?: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Your-listing-titles-are-returning-to-search-resul...

[M199]

 

 

[Huma0]

@M199 

Yes, this was announced a few days ago. It's the first post under featured posts on the homepage of the CC.

No harm flagging it up again though for those that missed it.

Personally, I wasn't too bothered about this, although know custom titles are more important to other hosts with different types of listings to mine. 

I'm just still trying to figure out if the 32 character limit before the title gets truncated on a mobile phone includes spaces or not. Once I get that answer, I'll probably edit my titles. I like having private room and Victorian house on there, as well as near tube, but it won't all fit in. I don't want people to read that the listing is near a 'Victorian tub', even if I do have a roll top bath!

[Nancy1633]

@M199 

Interesting choice of words.  Returning what they took away (our titles) is a "helpful update."

So they admit that taking our titles away was an "unhelpful update."

[Gillian166]

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So they admit that taking our titles away was an "unhelpful update."

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@Nancy1633  🤣😂

of course they won't ever see it like that! 

[M199]

The listing titles like Cabin or Cottage on the first search page that were changed with the summer 22 release.

Hope that clarifies.

[M199]

@ Huma0

Probably, I don't get articles like what you listed and don't have time to go digging for them.

😟

[Huma0]

@M199 

You don't get sent the articles, but you don't have to dig for this one either. It's highlighted as the first post on the homepage here on the CC.

I think that, as the only bit of 'good news', even though it's simply back tracking on an unpopular decision, as @Nancy1633 points out, regarding the Summer Release, Airbnb wants us to know about it.

Personally, I think there are bigger issues going on with the search results, but maybe this will prove me wrong. Let's see come July if the return of custom titles in the searches will suddenly restore views and bookings to what they were before the roll out. I am not convinced though.