Summer 2022 Release 56 Categories

[Susan990]

Why did Airbnb eliminate from the categories list Guesthouse* Studio* Cottage* ?

Those 3 traditional summer vacation rental types are recognized globally. They all

were presented in the previous format in the Types section which was about a dozen-

now there are 56 categories (types) and they are gone.  Gone too are my Guesthouse

Studio Cottage listings from search function.  Hosting since 2013 and it keeps getting 

weirder.  

[Laura2592]

I don't understand why we have region specific categories like riads but nothing for cottage! It boggles the mind. I would venture to guess that most people around the world can more readily identify a cottage than a minsus-- I looked up the definition on that one and found nothing.  And a cabin is NOT a cottage. 

@Jenny there is a jumble of architectural types and features (ski out and pools are not a type of home but rather a feature). Its confusing for guests. I am someone who is very interested in historic architecture and consider myself fairly educated on the subject. I am confused by the choices here-- some make zero sense, some are only applicable to a small sliver of the world and some are not the proper terms. There are far too many categories.

Perhaps there could be a more logical type sort. Guests can search by location (the more traditional way to look for accommodation ) and then under the location some of the sub categories available would appear. I guarantee there are no dammusos in my area. Why would a guest coming here want to see house porn in Italy? Its counter productive for booking. Only the most spectacular front page properties get featured and the guests are left having to dig through pages and clicks to get to what is actually available in their area. 

[Molly396]

I agree with the word jumble mentioned above in these categories. I’m in Pittsburgh: when I search Pittsburgh I am only allowed to see SOME of the new category options. For example I click beachside, off the grid, or ski in out, but I can’t pick creative spaces. For our local guests it’s not that beneficial to be able to click off the grid and see properties 10 miles away. I would like to see some more “city centric” categories added. Like “high walkability score” “near museums” “city center”. Another example: we have a carriage house. Now you can choose: studio, carriage house, guest house, tiny house, but only one of those actually makes it into a category. What’s the point of disorganizing results?? 

[Huma0]

When I search London, no categories come up. When I search UK, only beachside comes up. Nothing else. 

On other threads, the moderators have said you need to pick "I'm flexible" instead of a location and then use the map to zoom in. This works. More categories come up. However, that is not what was said in the article that Airbnb published about it. That said the categories would still come up if you searched with a location. 

[Suzanne302]

@Huma0  When I search categories in my area, it keeps zooming out to other areas. If I'm looking for a specific location, I don't want to see properties 30, 40, 50 miles away. Somebody make it make sense!

[Huma0]

@Suzanne302 

I had to keep zooming in a few times and, once it got closer to my area, it stopped zooming out but, yes, it's frustrating to use. I don't think many guests will like it.

[Huma0]

@Suzanne302 

Oh, and then if you switch to list view, suddenly I am in France, not South London. This is terrible.

[Suzanne302]

@Huma0 

As a guest, I don't like it! I had been searching for a place in the mountains and wanted to go anytime in Sept or Oct. I was going to pick my dates, based on what was available that I liked, rather than locking in dates and taking what was available. I can't do that now! The option doesn't exist.

If I want to try different dates I have to manually put in each set of dates and do separate searches.

[Amy94]

I agree!  I’m on Oak Island and when I use the map feature I’m seeing places 3 states away.  This has got to be confusing to newer guests trying to figure it out.  We have a lot of weddings on the island and we have very few motels in the area.  

When people search for Oak Island because they NEED to be on Oak Island very few places come up.  They’re shown mostly Myrtle Beach or Ocean Isle.  Two to three hours away!  

My listing has tanked. I used to be considered a “rare find”

and hardly ever decline a request. I’ve changed nothing about my listing other than to add amenities and now I can barely be found.  I don’t understand this at all. 

[Laura2592]

Years ago when I worked for Chanel I had a brilliant sales trainer who said "never give a customer more than 3 choices. It kills the sale. Humans are not wired to make a selection when there are too many choices." She then showed us how to present 3 options at a time and stop presenting when it was clear the customer liked one. In years since I have used this in every job I have ever had, whether it involved selling or not. I have designed presentations around it to explain complex information in my profession. I have even used it with guests who asked for advice on places to visit when they stayed with me. 

I would humbly suggest that ABB take this methodology to heart. 120000 categories might seem like a rich smorgasboard of options to tantalize a potential guest. But all it will end up doing is frustrating users who don't want a castle in Germany when they are booking a stay in Peoria. Presenting things in bite size decision points will actually create more opportunities for booking for end users. It appears to me that this layout has forgotten who is paying the bills in favor of showing off all the cool places one COULD stay, were one truly unsure about travel but in possession of unlimited time and money. Few, if any, of my paying guests have been in that situation.

[Huma0]

@Laura2592 

I totally agree with you (and your former sales trainer). However, I think what is happening here (which Brian Chesky has confirmed) is that Airbnb is trying to drive customers away from already busy markets, perhaps those where they are encountering resistance from local authorities, and instead encourage them to book elsewhere, i.e. places that they were not even considering.

So, it's the opposite of giving the customer what they want and it seems like a really bad tactic to me because I very much doubt there are many customers who will go for this. Yesterday I was searching in the 'design' category and trying to find if there was anything included in a rather large area of South London. Nope, nothing, which is ridiculous. The system kept sending me to the other end of the country but mostly to France, but not in Paris, in smaller towns or in the countryside. Erm, if I want to stay in London, why would you think I'd book that instead?

When I was still hosting tourists, I would get very specific questions about location, like "How far are you from Big Ben?". Now that I host long term guests, but I still get the questions, only they are more like "How far are you from X or Y university?". If Airbnb think that they can change a guest's choice of location, I think they are being pretty naive. 

[Huma0]

---

@Laura2592 wrote:

Years ago when I worked for Chanel I had a brilliant sales trainer who said "never give a customer more than 3 choices. It kills the sale. Humans are not wired to make a selection when there are too many choices." She then showed us how to present 3 options at a time and stop presenting when it was clear the customer liked one. In years since I have used this in every job I have ever had, whether it involved selling or not. I have designed presentations around it to explain complex information in my profession. I have even used it with guests who asked for advice on places to visit when they stayed with me. 

---

Same here. I remember an older couple who were supposed to stay with me for two nights but ended up coming for just one, arriving late afternoon and leaving the next morning, because their schedule was overly ambitious. They were trying to do three countries in Europe in six days, including travelling times.

As soon as they arrived, they asked me, "How do we get to the sights? Where are the sights?" I asked which sights they were interested in seeing. The lady sighed with exasperation. "You know," she said, "THE sights. The sights of London." They literally had a couple of hours to see the "sights of London" and tick London off their bucket list and were clearly in a hurry.

Well, I was very tempted to give them a lecture about the size and scope of London and the number of sights spread out over a large area (they had clearly done zero research into the trip) but I resisted the urge and just sent them to the Westminster area where they could take selfies outside the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace before the sun set. They left believing they had seen all the sights of London and were happy customers. 

Yep, sometimes it's better not to give them choices.

[Suzanne302]

@Laura2592I agree and it should be obvious you need to limit choices or people become overwhelmed. I often say that when picking out paint colors...I'm looking for a blue/green, give me 5 options and no more! Because I'd end up taking a month to decide on "the perfect" color with ALL the choices available.

This rollout goes along perfectly with Airbnb's obsession to be all things to all people. They don't understand the concept of picking one or two target audiences, and "superserving" those audiences. You can't be all things to all people in the hospitality industry. Hotel chains get this concept. Even if owned by the same company, they know you can't market to Motel 6 customers like you market the Hilton. Yet, here is Airbnb, trying to capture everyone and in the process making it a big mess.

Side note about the search results now...You don't see the title the host gave the listing in the search results. You only see "Entire home in xyz" or "Private room in xyz." The title only shows up when you click on the listing.

So those hosts who are crafty at marketing and have selected a fun title to capture a guest's attention or attract a certain type of guest? It doesn't really matter anymore.

[Laura2592]

@Suzanne302 there's often really head scratching decisions made that fly in the face of profit producing scenarios.  I understand the need for companies to see themselves as disruptors but at the end of the day (or fiscal year) you want to make choices that put you in the black. 

This latest iteration of search is objectively poor.  Guests cannot see what they need (which after all, is the point of search) and hosts are at the mercy of a bot for placement. It's like ordering a salad and ending up with a pork chop. Frustrating.  And not what you asked for. 

[Ruth413]

My Shepherds Huts use to come under unique stays and lots of my guests found them through searching unique stays because they wanted something a bit different.  It now comes under the category house which is definitely not.   If the algorithm is by photos the main photo is of the Hut and Shepherd Hut is in the Heading, so I have no idea why it is not being picked up.  I am going to see if I can change anything at my end for it to show up under the correct category.  

[Sybe]

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the new categories and search. There are some really valuable and constructive comments here which is amazing to see! We'll make your comments arrive with the right people.

@Laura2592  That is a very interesting strategy, I'm going to keep this in mind! Some people I know can be quite indecisive so hopefully this will be useful. 😉