OMG I finally got a booking!

[Huma0]

So, the Summer Release rolled out back in early May. Since then, my views have dived and I've barely gotten any enquiries, let alone booking requests, and I've had no bookings at all except for a couple from returning guests.

I have recently been in contact with CS about this. After a bit of back and forth, I was told that there was an engineering team working on fixing some of the glitches related to the Summer Release (this was vague, so I don't know which specific glitches they were referring to) but there was really nothing they could do in the meantime to help me. I am not knocking the CS Rep who, as it happens, was pretty decent compared to most I've dealt with in the last couple of years. It just wasn't within his control to do anything to help me.

Then, all of a sudden, I get an enquiry. No big deal, I hear you say, but it's the first one in a month and for a listing that used to be my most popular but that seemed to drop off the map completely after the Summer Release. Then, today, I got a booking request for that same room and, after a bit of back and forth, accepted it. That is literally the first booing in two months.

Maybe it's a complete coincidence, or maybe something has happened.

[Kyle325]

Good for you!  We're STILL waiting for a booking under the new 'release'....  our views tanked - literally - went from an average of 1000 with 6-8 bookings/month - to 430 views and 0 bookings so far....  Airbnb's new platform had, for some reason, chosen a less than desirable photo of our cabin as our 'profile' photo instead of the one we had pre-selected... deleted that pic and some others so that their 'AI' would not choose another less than desirable photo .... our latest daily views jumped from 11 to 31.... coincidence?  don't know.... when our bookings start back up, I'll decide.....  VERY FRUSTRATED WITH AIRBNB AT THIS JUNCTURE

[Huma0]

@Kyle325 

Yes, the photo thing is pretty annoying. I noticed that the photo I selected still shows as the lead photo in searches most of the time, but it depends on the category. For the 'historical homes' category, the AI selects a photo of the exterior of the house, rather than the bedroom. Do you know which category/categories you are in?

The drop in views and bookings has been very dramatic. One of my listings went from over 2,200 views a month to 25. Another listing went down to 0 views. To be fair, the room with 0 views doesn't have much availability now due to a returning guest, but that never stopped people looking before. I would expect to get fewer views, but ZERO in a MONTH???!

I don't get that many bookings a month because I host long term stays but, before the release, I got plenty of interest, to the point that I had to keep turning away returning guests because the dates were always booked. I was wishing I had more rooms to offer...

Before this new booking that I posted about, the only bookings post the Summer Release were from returning guests, so at least they are now getting a look in!

[John5097]

@Huma0 

I was already booked way out, and have managed to rebook dates that canceled and a few others, all 2 night stays, but the past 30 days have had the fewest bookings since I've started hosting. 

 I'm tempted to think that its some human making poor choices to prioritize host they like or ones who complain the most, but also that I was already booked way out and now the algo has forgotten my listing? Apparently having the highest ratings, rave reviews, and being inclusive doesn't factor in to how listings are prioritized.   

If Airbnb doesn't book mine like it always has, I'll be forced to list on other sites. I'm not too worried about it. I just really enjoyed the wide range of guest who have all be great so just sad that one update would present a barrier to it. 

The entire Summer Release just seemed like an attempt to squeeze as much money out of guest  by selecting random week long stays by default,  getting rid of the titles, showing discounts that don't apply to less than 7 days, which has totally confused at least half the guest searching for accommodations. The Catigories now seems to have been practically disabled and only shows on the main ABB website and after entering a destination it also disappears.

Although I'm a little more frustrated today as I had a request to book yesterday for next available date but the guest only had a single 1.5 star review so only the second guest I've declined. I use IB but guest with no reviews or low review have to request to book.   

[Huma0]

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@John5097 wrote:

@Huma0 

 I'm tempted to think that its some human making poor choices to prioritize host they like or ones who complain the most, but also that I was already booked way out and now the algo has forgotten my listing? 
 

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I don't think it's that. It's the AI making poor choices, which is why I'm glad that Airbnb have finally put some actual human beings onto it, but other than the categories, I am not sure which glitches they are working on. There definitely doesn't seem to be an intention to get rid of categories, rather I was told they would be adding more.

I made so much noise about the Summer Release that I was invited to have a chat with some of the folks at Airbnb about it. They were the ones who put a CS agent onto the case to look into my views (or lack of them) but there wasn't really anything he could do about it. I did get the impression though that feedback is being taken on board and some changes will be made. I am just not sure which ones.

Good to hear you have enough bookings to keep you going for the time being. For sure, having bookings far out will affect your views, but views for the room that is booked out for a long time by a returning guest crashed before she made that booking, i.e. crashed right after the Summer Release, just like the views for my other rooms, so I am sure that is not the only factor.

[John5097]

@Huma0 

As I recall yours is a long term listing, 30 days or longer. A lot of these used to show up on the first page for a general search, showing the nightly rate that was discounted for the long term rate. Guest would need to click on it, which they would as the nightly rate was lower, and only discover it was a 30 days or longer after clicking on the dates in the calendar. 

Now the default is for a random week so a long term listing, 30 days, wouldn't even appear on the list or map even after zooming all the way into the street level. 

You can see that the only place categories is available is at the main booking site. It doesn't default to this page when googling Airbnb. It defaults to a page with only option to select location and dates. So would need to click on the Airbnb icon at the top left to get to this page in my web browser. It may be different it others but does this in two of my browsers that have different search engines. 



It also has the Any Week default which has been discussed. 
Then after entering a destination, the categories disaster. For example here is London UK. 



I'm mentioning this because I also got a message that host can now call customer service and request which category they are in, that this option wasn't going to be shared in a post for everyone, but feel free to share in comments. But it appears for all intent the Catigories has been scaled back so much that its been practically disabled. The same listings all showed up in the different catigories when I searched them. 

Then for guest to select listings for 30 days or longer they would need to click on the Any Week. There seems to be a slight change here where it now shows the options for Weekend, Week, and Month. As it had defaluted to the select dates, then would need to click flexible, then Month. 

So now searching by any dates requires one extra click by guest, but does make it easier to search by week, weekend or month. Although don't think they all will try that and may just click on each month at the bottom assuming no filters have been applied, and still only see listings with one week available, and no 30 day listings or listing with dates open less than 7 days. 



In the past an algorithm did everything and Airbnb was very good at booking listings. It prioritized listings that were good value and high ratings. Of course availability factored in. But when I got a cancellation my views would jump from 40 a day to 100-200 and could count on it rebooking even when guest canceled on very short notice.

Now I see blah listings, low ratings, that are featured. I don't see the views ramping up the way they used to. That made sense. After it booked the views dropped back down. 

Individuals intervening may help but that may also disrupt the algorithm so that only the ones that complain the most get prioritized. My listing has perfect reviews, is inclusive, I enjoy the diversity, as it gives me hope for humanity, but I can tell that my listing isn't reaching the proper guest searches. 

What makes it frustrating is that I've only declined two guest, but this last one with 1.5 stars and burned the property with cigarettes, my views dropped. It doesn't take into account the 228 five star riviews from inclusive diverse range of guest, just that my views will drop for declining a single guest with 1.5 reviews. 

If you have a chance to mention to the decision makers, just a simple search filter would be helpful. I'll just hope for the best and adjust the best I can. 

[John5097]

@Huma0 

Guess what? As I was typing this I got a reservation for my next available nights. I had a 3 night minimum. So I'm glad that yesterday I declined he tiki toruch frat guys who burned property in another listing with their cig butts, and got a lovely couple for those dates with 4 5 star reviews.  Maybe someone read this but I'm a happy camper now!  🙂 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Yay! Congratulations.

Yep, we shouldn't let this whole Summer Release factor force us to accept every guests for fear of our listings sinking further in the searches. We are already held hostage enough by the review system. 

[Wende2]

@John5097...Good to know about requesting a category, wonder how many want OMG!. I did notice when I clicked anywhere for where I want to go, a search did open up, so I put my tiny town and we came up, there aren't many here.  I'm on the shore in Md., great location just 5 mins from Blackwater Refuge and the Harriet Tubman Museum, both considered National Parks.  I haven't had a booking since June 27th.  I did get one yesterday, but as I figured I'd start getting the hunters back, but that's at the most 10 days/2 weeks those few  months.

@John5097...That's great, I hope they keep coming.

[John5097]

@Wende2 That sounds like a amazing location. I've camped out at Assateague Island and stayed friends up in the hilly part of MD outside of Frederic. 

I think @Huma0 is right and now that bookings will help get more views. I don't know but seems like a lot of host are experincing a drop off so more meddling and tweaking the algo. Hopefully they take into account listings that have stayed booked and if they are dropping off. 

I did get a message that host could call CS and request which category but so far in my area even on the main ABB site the catigores I checked had the same listings. I was in the ones I check, Amazing Views, and OMG, and Beach, but that all had the same listings, and mine was only one with any kind of view. But maybe my area just hasn't been updated yet. It was a mess with the first catigories and only the multi million dollar listings were displayed hundreds of miles away from selected search area. 

[Wende2]

@John5097...it's a wonderful location, I'm maybe 90 mins from Assateague.  i did go back and pull up National parks, I got tried of looking 3 pgs in, everything was in Va.  Moved on to countryside, bingo, not me but places near here.  I think that ones my best bet at this point.?  Something else they changed, going to see a hosts listing from the CC, I wanted to see if you're countryside as well.  If so, might not hurt to go take a look.? 

I'm actually looking to sell.  A few yrs the sewer district started charging me x3, I have a lease agreement here as well.  That bill went up to $525.81, this month they've decided to charge every quarter a service fee, so now I'm at $565.81, which is more than my property taxes.  So I've had enough, for me it's the principle, I have fewer people here than a few homes here in our incorporated area.  OK I'm done, I get tried of hearing myself complain.

Forgot to mention my friend, I think maybe she goes on to tweak, I'll have to ask and let her know what you said.  I raised my price a big $10, thought if no one books I'll change it back.  Good thing I did that in March, had I last month I'd blame my price.  I changed all of next yr, and added a photo, whether that helps, who knows.?!

nnnnnnnn

[Huma0]

@Wende2 

I also put up my prices a bit (to account for increased costs such as rising utility bills and my cleaners increasing their fees due to the rising cost of living) and it made no difference to my bookings. They were still coming in, no problem and people weren't asking for extra discounts. They seemed happy to pay the advertised price as it is good value. 

Then came the Summer Release and everything crashed. 

RE being able to request being added to a category or removed from one you're in that's not appropriate, read my post about that earlier in the thread, where I have copy pasted the response I got from the CS rep, which gives more detail on that.

[Wende2]

@Huma0...I'm so glad I did that in March, had I changed them last month, I'd be lowering them back, thinking people thought that was too much.

[Huma0]

@John5097 

That's interesting. When I Google airbnb using Safari, the first result is the homepage with the categories and the exact same thing happens when using Chrome. Maybe it depends on your location, as the version of the site that automatically comes up for me is airbnb.co.uk. It probably depends also on browsing history.

Plus, I think a lot of guests won't use a search engine first but just type in airbnb.com or whatever because it's such a well known site. So, I am not sure the categories landing page is that hidden/irrelevant.

From here, it automatically shows me barns, which is now the first category that shows up, in the UK, but previously, it was showing me the islands category and would keep defaulting back to that when I tried to search other categories, which is super annoying.

I did feedback to the decision makers RE the search function. I believe they are working on some of the glitches, but got the impression that categories are here to stay for the time being.

It's interesting that there isn't a category for long term stays given how much Airbnb had been pushing them recently and considering that they apparently now make up a huge part of the market.

Anyway, I always thought though that my guests, being long term, would search using dates so I personally wasn't too worried about the categories. However, I was obviously being complacent as the Summer Release has been disastrous for me regardless. I am starting to suspect that being included in categories does have a impact on the listing's position in the searches in general, because my listing that is currently in three categories shows up way higher in the shared homes category (where all my listings are) and also in a traditional search without categories. It is also the only room that's getting some views. Those views started only when it was added to the three categories. 

It's odd, but I can't think of any other explanation, given that this room has always been the least popular of the three (being the smallest) and the last to get booked. It's not availability, as I had another room that was available earlier when I first noticed this change. It's not the rating as another room has a higher rating (not sure if the rating has a significant impact on the search ranking). Perhaps it's because that room is the one that most recently got a review (and a 5* one) that pushed it up the searches? I won't be able to tell unless the same thing happens to one of the other rooms next time I get a review.

RE availability, of course, like you, when I got a last minute cancellation there would be a flurry of activity. However, I noticed when I was still doing short stays that, while availability can affect views, the more bookings I got, the higher my listings showed in results and the more enquiries/requests I got (I remember reading in an Airbnb guide to search algorithms that more bookings = higher search ranking = more bookings and so forth). Since I switched to long term stays, having rooms booked out a few months ahead never prevented me from getting further bookings as it's normal for long term guests to book in advance. 

I am also hoping for the best and preparing to adjust as necessary. I don't need a lot of stays to fill the calendar, so maybe enough (good) guests will find me. I am also lucky to have repeat guests at the moment. I have one girl who has booked a room for a six month period and most likely will extend to nine, so that's one room taken care of for a long time. I have another guest who books direct and stays for a few weeks at a time several times a year, so  that should at least fill half the calendar for another room. There is another guest (student nurse) who has tried to rebook with me several times but the dates were never available. Perhaps she will stay again. I hope so.

So, the situation isn't quite dire. But, if it wasn't for repeat guests, I would definitely be looking elsewhere for customers and there is no guarantee that those guests circumstances won't change and the bookings fall through, so it's scary to have no safety net (i.e. before the release I knew cancelled dates would get rebooked) if they do.

Let's see if Airbnb add my other listings to the categories and if that improves anything. I will certainly report back either way.

[John5097]

Hi @Huma0 ! 

This is the google search for Safari. The very first option for Airbnb. 

Then clicking on it takes it to the option to search for specific location and dates. Not the main Airbnb site with Categories. 

On Chrome using DuckDuckGo it directs to  Apartments that takes it to a different site that also no categories and have to enter dates and location. It also has a lot more featured listings. (Mine used to be featured but no more.)

 
I think the featured listings that also appear on the phone search are hand picked. I've been watching the usual most popular ones, including mine, and a few are given priority. Although I'm kind of glad I don't land in the Downtown category as I'm not downtown. There is even a Backpackers listing there that only has a light and fan in the woods, with no plumbing 
 

I guess just wait and see how it turns out. 

You must be good luck! While writing this post at a lunch spot I ran into a buddy who used to supervise in cabinet shop, and offered me a job at new cabinet shop. So may have to go back to the cabinet shop if bookings slow down or part time. It was so dangerous though and so much dust although this one is real high end with advanced dust collection. Although I like being super busy also like more independence and dealing with people. 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Well, opportunities are coming your way so I certainly hope I am good luck 🙂 

Thanks for posting the screenshots. That's certainly strange as, whichever browser I use, I definitely get the landing page with categories, defaulting to whichever the first category on the list is, which right now is barns but was islands before.

I haven't tried searching on my phone as I find it much easier on a laptop, but I will give it a go and see what happens...