Hosts should be able to opt out of Google-generated “Points of Interest Nearby” in listings

[Marjorie29]

i have only just discovered this problem. At some point Airbnb added Nearby Points of Interest, provided by Google, where formerly there was just the map. These are in our case just wrong and Airbnb, after many messages, has done nothing. I want to opt out of these inaccurate points of interest. I live in New York in Manhattan a few blocks from the East River.  Two examples  of the problem:   1. Google says my listings are 1.5 miles from Astoria Park but google doesnt recognize that we are on an Island (Manhattan) and the East River is between us and Queens with no nearby bridge. Swimming or walking on water are the only options to span the 1.5 miles. Driving takes 19 minutes and travels 4.5 miles through city traffic. Public transportation takes 47 minutes ( mapquest).

2:  Central Park is .75 miles from here. Google says 1.7 miles. Central Park is 2 1/2 miles long. We measure to the nearest point, to East 110 and Fifth avenue.

After many messages (it took 7 days and over 20 messages to have the problem correctly addressed), Airbnb has advised me to deal with Google.  Clearly not a solution. Airbnb created the problem, they should find a solution.

Airbnb needs to let hosts have the final word on accurate points of interest

[Emiel1]

@Marjorie29 

The use of Google maps is driven by an interface (API), filled by Airbnb. The "top places nearby" are added by Google, the request to do so is done by Airbnb. If a "top places nearby" is not correct, it is Google to blame. It is possible to let Google know something is not correct, but it takes some effort to do so.

[Ann72]

@Marjorie29  I'm annoyed by the same thing.  For my listing in Maine, it says Bar Harbor is 18 miles away.  That's as the crow flies - to drive there takes an hour.

One of the "Top Places Nearby" is the Seal Cove Auto Museum.  Not one guest I've had in six years has ever mentioned it or asked about, and not one person I've known in nearly thirty years of coming to Maine has ever mentioned it or recommended it.  There are dozens of other places not only closer but of far greater interest to the majority of visitors.

Airbnb could work better with Google by drawing from hosts' guidebooks to populate these lists.  Those guidebooks are public and would therefore pose no privacy issue.  In addition, such a list can only be useful in this day and age if the entries were hyperlinked, which they're not.