Anyone else not really feeling “Categories?”

[Richard531]

I've always felt that Brian Chesky was a little out of touch.  But I gotta say: I’m starting to feel that way more now than ever. It’s the same self-righteous attitude on his latest video, but his time he went a little too far and is taking the direction of the company with him.    

That is, the continued pounding of the war drum: "People can work from wherever they want now."  And it’s been discussed 100 times, but let’s remind everyone that this line of thinking forgets ~80% of the workforce/would-be travelers! 

Teachers, plumbers, garbage men, electricians, doctors, gardeners, therapists, restaurant workers, retail workers, delivery drivers, general contractors, mothers/fathers, THE STAFF WE DEPEND ON, like house cleaners, handymen, and our very selves as property managers and project directors of new listings.  None of them/us can, "Work from wherever they (we) want."  And never will we be able to work from wherever we want.  So the whole entry point is flawed from the start.  I get it, a billionaire CEO can load up his pooch and get on a ferry to an awesome 3 BR/ 2 Bath listing.  He can hole up there for a week and “work” while he does a couple virtual yoga class, gets food delivered, and has a masseuse to come to the home.  But everyone else? Not so much. 

It makes me cringe when he deduces that just because a portion of a portion of the workforce can kinda/sorta work from home now on a more consistent basis that the entire market would say out loud "Hummm, where should I go?" when contemplating travel plans.  That’s just not how it goes in the real world.

99% of us have a TIME in which to vacation and a DESTINATION in mind that we'd like to go to.  THEN, we book flights, and THEN we find our accommodations based on those parameters.    

The more conspicuous problem for "Categories" and thinking that, "People can work from wherever they want," is that the WFH mantra is slowly eroding as Covid-19 gets deeper and deeper into the rearview (THANK GOD).  It's all going to get back to normal.  And sooner than we think. 

Meanwhile, we’ll be stuck with these "Categories" as our guests are being peddled treehouses in Brazil and castles in Ireland when all they really want is a decent/cost effective beach condo in Miami or a house to enjoy with their family in the California Hi-Desert. 

I'm not one to just resist change!  But I think Airbnb really missed the ball on this.  

[Susan1188]

In Europe we do have work from home.

And also people are flexible on destination, want to go exotic, sun, beach, but don't care if it's Portugal, Spain, France or Italy...

But I think Airbnb did not properly research the sequence of this trend.

While people might say "I'm flexible", it doesn't mean airbnb flexible.  The logical sequence is:  find the cheap flight somewhere *THEN* book your Airbnb.

You're not going to book even the cheapest and best Airbnb if your flights are 600 euros.

So the driver is the low cost flight.  Did they think about this, for the European market?

Now if they made a deal with ryanair or easyjet, for a package deal, that would be a true breakthrough.

As it is, people say they are "flexible" .  They think they are.  Until researching the flights.  Then they are not flexible!

Also - in Europe- petrol prices mean that nobody wants to drive 2 hours from the airport.  Airbnb is proposing competitors to myself who are 2 hours away when you click on the "pool" filter.  while thousands of my neighbors and myself have pools but might sit empty.

[Anonymous]

@Susan1188  Awhile back, it was mentioned in a Skift article that Airbnb had been pursuing a flight-booking tool to add to the platform before the IPO, but it never worked out. I don't know whether train/bus travel was ever on the table, but it would be a pretty bad look for a brand that talks a big talk about sustainability to start hawking short-haul flights. 

You're right, though - the workflow for flexible travel search is all wrong with the getting-there part cut out of the equation. Several startups in the last years have attempted some version cross-platform booking functionality, but none have quite managed to streamline it with Airbnb. 

[Susan1188]

@Anonymous  

Yes in Europe the "flexible" thing would only work if flights were included!

Package should include (1) flight price (2) airbnb price and (3) DISTANCE FROM THE AIRPORT / ease of reaching of the airbnb

In my experience Europeans are not going to fly 4 hours then hire a care and ride 4 miles from the airport to get to their airbnb for a short stay.

[Anonymous]

@Susan1188 I know a lot of Europeans who prefer land travel over short-haul flights. But I don't know anyone under 60 who can stomach the idea of taking a short-haul flight and renting a car - especially considering that the car is quite a bit costlier than the flight. When you're traveling around Europe, either you take your own car for a road trip, or you take a flight/train to your destination and get around by local transport.

[Susan1188]

@Anonymous 
My market is Spain, Marbella, golf, Andalusia.  Self driving tours of white villages, car needed for golf equipment, etc. People take a low-cost flight and 70% of my guests rent a car.  But they don't want a 3 hour drive after landing.  30% of guests, no car!

[Helen744]

@Susan1188 Australians will go anywhere in a car. We hate public transport . We would walk five miles at a pinch but much prefer hiring cars for a couple of weeks H

[Anonymous]

@Helen744 

[Helen744]

@Anonymous at the moment we are going into winter and a cold snap where the amount of gas we export is greater than what we use. It remains our emission. Also we do not live on a pocket hankerchief  size country Not sure how many Europes could fit into Australia but a lot , sometimes the nearest shop is 15 km away , unlike England we are not a country of shop keepers. We are looking at major wind and solar developments across vast areas which will potentially destroy vast areas of farmland because our country is not flat but has height and distance extremes from deserts to oceans.We are battling major climate change and with our new government are becoming increasingly involved in the assistance to our South pacific neighbours.Many of whom are at risk of disappearing under the waves. Coal is being phased but many of our neighbours such as China rely on coal powered industry while their cities choke. Russia as you are well aware also, are holding their European neighbours brutally hostage over a specious need to control resources. We all bear our personal responsibilities in sway but we do not generally use diesal engine cars at all ,although when I was in Ireland it was offered as a viable alternative, We simply would rather walk. They were only ever taken up by farmers here and are being phased out .Alas we have lost our on shore manufacturing and still export a lot of raw product overseas , mainly Europe . We have a seriously high level of trust for providing clean green food ,which is the bottom line At one stage Chinas baby food was so contaminated that babies died . Chinese families living in Australia were buying all of the baby food here and personally sending it for sale to China . Little syndicates which came at risk of depriving Australian mums and babies.Laws were introduced to lock cans and distribute one only per customer before the pandemic.Yes emissions need to be dealt with, but a statistic chart from who knows where, not including a great deal of other data will not tell the whole story ,but believe you me, the people of Australia demand climate  action , just like you,and as our recent election outcome proves ,get it.Our clean green food status is at risk . I cannot think how this will affect our citizens but we have supplied raw material of every type to the wider world for over two hundred years Its not always straight forward Andrew . I fyour countries system precludes certain activities then we all must respect that but the same way you might take a plane we will and can drive.Our fuels are no longer lead based and our cars are smaller and more efficient . Our roads are pretty good ,unless washed away but 'airmiles are also an issue as is and are diesal buses . H

[Helen744]

I like trains though

[Dave52]

@Richard531 I agree with you about the categories being a step backwards.  It seems listings are now dumped into generic categories "condo" or "apartment" or "resort" by the algorithm.   The listing title no longer shows on the search screen and guest must select each listing to learn more.   Airbnb CS cannot explain how listings are placed into their categories.

In addition, I heard from a guest wanting to book a stay , saying they were blocked.  Wouldn't have cared too much, but I never experienced this before so I contacted airbnb CS to learn more.  Airbnb CS: has nothing to do with your listing, certain "pattern of factors" blocked the guest but Airbnb CS could not explain why it was blocked and I simply want to know why.  They finally said, one of the factors it's a peak weekend with a big event in town, seems totally backwards to me.  They also said was "last minute" even though was 9 days before check-in.  But nothing can be done. can't be overridden, the algorithm decides.  I would have preferred giving me, as the host, the opportunity to decide and approve the booking.

[Susan1188]

Seems like they have let artificial intelligence take over.
I'm researching alternative platforms.  I was ready to turn off all competition and only publish on Airbnb, it was going so well before this roll out.
Now I'm researching channel managers because probably I will need to turn on my other platforms again if this algorithm sends me no guests or bad guests.

[Emilie]

@Dave52 In case you've not seen it yet, we've shared some actions we were taking based on Host feedback, including the fact that we will add back Host-written listing titles. You can read more about it here: 

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/host-questions-answered-airbnb-2022-summer-releas...

Thanks, 

Emilie

[Dave52]

@Emilie Thank you for the link.  Listing titles in search results is a positive step forward.  Don't know why it was removed.  Will look forward to this again in July.

The 'categories' seem bizarre.  They seem to be affected by a bot searching and counting keywords in the listing description.  Why?  For example I see listings in 'Lakefront' that are NOT lakefront.  Some in 'beachfront' are NOT beachfront.  Seems they are put in these categories simply because they have alot of instances of the word 'lake' and 'beach' in their descriptions respectively.  Or maybe because the bot counts they are in the cities of 'Clear Lake' or 'Long Beach'.  Totally messed up.  This wastes time for the guest, doesn't make any sense and the guest misses other listings that ARE lakefront or beachfront.  I hope airbnb reviews this and makes necessary changes soon.

[Katja202]

You can still search the old fashioned way as well. I think it is a fantastic addition. It is a different approach then the competition has. It is a feature for guests and we want them in our places. Read some of the articles, tweak your ad text. And search your self. It is briljant. Airbnb isn’t a booking . Com. We are here for the uniqueniss and this is unique. I like it a lot. And I asked the first guests and they love it too. And if they love it I love it even more! Thats our business … isn’t it. 🥳👍🏻🌺

[Gillian166]

@Katja202  how can you still search the old way? it now defaults to a 5 day booking. I can't just search places, ignoring the calendar. If i type "i'm flexible" it still searches places with a 5 day vacancy only. Guests are going to have to actually notice this, and then input an exact date.