Cannot find my listing (ANSWER)

[Marcus0]

Hi All,

i am writing this post for all those people that write in weekly with the heading "Cannot find my listing".

Although there may be several reasons why your property is NOT coming up on search, the most common reason is...

Airbnb uses a search algorithm to select properties in searches based on the criteria of the search.  Therefore when you do a search for your own property in your own area, the airbnb search engine "randomly" or "selectively" chooses what properties to present as the search result.  This is because Airbnb does not want to show hundreds/thousands of results.  They do not want to overwhelm customers with hundreds of properties and more specifically Airbnb does not want to look like suburbs are overrun with Airbnb properties.  This is why sometimes you can find your place and other times not.  The chance of your property being found can also be attributed to the Airbnb algorithm which in my opinion gives priortiy to hosts that regularily update their calendar, do not cancel bookings, in general aim to adhere to Superhosts requirements.

Give me a thumbs up if that helped.

Here are some articles on the matter.

http://rentingyourplace.com/airbnb-101/creating-an-airbnb-listing/seo/

https://www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/39/how-are-search-results-determined

[Helen3]

Give them a call - I don't think they are terribly responsive to people contacting them via their site.

[Dede0]

@Narivana0, let me assure you that it has nothing to do with the IP address involved in the search. I can search for my own listing from the same browser or an alternate browser, and I can always (ALWAYS) find it. I can also search from a different browser when using a VPN to mock being elsewhere in the world (that is, via a differerent IP address) and I can always (ALWAYS) find my listing. I can also almost always (99% of the time; the one time I couldn't was a weird temporary glitch in AirBnB) find every single listing for every single host who writes here that their listing "doesn't show up". Their own inability to find their listing is always due to there being a huge number  of competing listings (popular areas have hundreds, if not thousands, of listings), and/or because the host simply didn't use a few logical filters such as potential guests might. The fact that any given listing shows up in the 497th spot when no filters are applied is just the way things work when there are 2000 competing listings. To find *any* listing, guaranteed, filter by narrowing the price range to +/- $50 or so of your rate (as most guests tend to do), then check off "whole house" or whatever, check off the appropriate cancellation policy. If that doesn't do it (it usually does), enter the number of bedrooms, number of beds, number of bathrooms. I guarantee you that will make the listing appear somewhere in the results. It always, always, always does. Listings never "disappear".

A totally different topic is how hosts can (legitimately and fairly) help their listings appear near the top of any search. Of course, some of that involves secrets that few of us will share.   🙂

Actually, I will share., because the "secrets" are really pretty simple: Good prices, good ratings, good response time, no cancellations, lots of bookings (which, besides being indicative of quality-of-experience, simply makes greedy old AirBnB happy). Not to brag, but in Austin, a metro area of 2 millions people, some totally unfiltered searches end up with our place in the first slot of the first page. Other times we might show up 2-5 pages in. And that's with NO filters, not even price, zip code, or neighborhood. Add any of those and we'll almost always be on page 1, often in slot 1. Why? We price nicely high but typically $5-10 below AirBnB's recommendations, we have ecstatically happy guests who give us great ratings and reviews, we always respond within an hour, we're always 95-100% booked, and we've never had to cancel (yet; crossing my fingers).

[Marcus0]

@Dede0 i´m coming to your place!

[ZenHomes0]

@Dede0 wow 95-100% booked is a feat!  You're easily the top 1% on Airbnb in terms of occupancy rates. I see that you rent out your entire home, I have this issue where renting out the entire home became quite cumbersome to arrange for cleaning for 1 night stays because it's a 4 bedroom home, so i'd have lots of gaps between 2 blocks, do you usually optimize your bookings (sit tight and wait for good dates) or just take bookings as they come along? If it's not too inconvenient could you shed some light if there's any strategy you adopt for this? I see that your minimum nights varies. Thanks 🙂

[Dede0]

@ZenHomes0 We rent out an entire detached apartment (a large 1 bdrm studio), not a house. The checkbox for that is the same as Entire House. We actually don't hit 100% very often, and to be honest, prefer not to. We like to have 1 or 2 days a month end up empty so we can make repairs, deep clean, etc.

We don't decline shorter bookings to wait for longer ones. If the guest meets our criteria, we approve the booking. We do have varied minimums -- our default is 2 days, but for certain weekends or even weeks when there are special events in the area, we'll set a 3-day or longer min. (For example, SXSW, which lasts roughly 2.5 weeks in March each year, warrants higher rates (2X our usual) and 5-7 day minimums.)

We check our calendar every day and may slightly fiddle our rates for certain days. We do look at AirBnB's price recommendations but we don't follow them. Contrary to a lot of complaints I hear about their reco's always being much too low, in our case they almost always suggest rates that are too high. We don't change our price up or down to match their recommendations, we just use them to get a feel for how rentals are going in our area. One thing I've noticed about their numbers is that they don't reflect any awareness of special events that are 2-6 months in the future. In those cases, they always think our rates are way too high.

Also, if things seem to be booking slower than normal 6-8 weeks out, we might drop the rates by $5-10 for awhile, attract enough requests to make us feel safe, and then put the rates back up to normal. Also, if we have 2-3 "isolated" days (with bookings on either side of them) that haven't booked and are growing near, we'll drop their rate a bit to fill that hole.

There's another little trick that I've mentioned in the CC before. If we end up with a single open day between two bookings, that day, because of our default 2-night minimum, is essentially unbookable. So what we do is message the guests on either side of that day and offer it to them at a greatly lowered rate. Most of those guests have fixed travel plans and can't use an added day, but about 20% of the time, one of the guests will accept the offer. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Good luck!

[ZenHomes0]

@Dede0 oh wow ! thanks for your answer on this, it's great to learn tips from experienced hosts like yourself. that's actually a good idea not to be 100% booked now that you mentioned this, so I can inspect the place thoroughly on these days to make sure if any repairs are needed. Also it's good you pointed out the special events, I'll be on the lookout. The only thing we got going in Singapore is the F1 race but apart from that there's nothing like the SXSW. I haven't really got the feel of demand/supply for my listing yet, but I suppose I could fiddle with 5-10% in my pricing as well and see how people react to it if I'm not booked 6-8 weeks out. Also, thanks for the wonderful tip on messaging guests about the extra day, that's actually a pretty swell idea, definitely not something I'd find in a cookie-cutter "tips for hosts".

[Susie5]

great tip about messaging guests to see if they want one of those orphan days!  I will do this! thanks!

[Lynette2]

Hi Dede,

I follow and understand your reasoning, but it doesn't seem to apply on the disappearance of my Haven to South Goa's Beaches (Chaudi, Canacona, Goa, India).

Only if I zoom out quite a lot (so more possible alternatives) then it shows but if I zoom in on the map then it disappears ... following your logic I would expect the opposite ...

Any idea pls?

Kr, Lynette.

[Ange2]

@Caroline53

Hi Caroline I just spoke to AIRBNB because my listing has rarely  (if at all) been appearing for 3 months now.  They said they have a glitch and confirmed my listing is still not appearing for June, July, and August but it  seems to appear randomly for other months!

There are also numerous other posts from many locations globally asking the same question so it does seem to be a general glitch that comes and goes.

They said they are working on it.

Best

Ange

[Sallie3]

Ange, 

Have they fixed the problem for you? I had the same problem (they confirmed), and now my neighbor (whom I'm helping) has the same issue. I've suggested to them that they might want to have a note on the website that not all available listings are currently appearing, so that at least guests can use the map to see if they want to look at individual properties' calendars. (Apparently the calendar appears up to date, just not the search.) They don't appear interested in suggestions. For as much money as they are making, they should be able to hire some extra programmers to work overtime!

[Linky0]

hi

my BnB is shown as listed and yet i cannot find it listed .... it is near a small town and the listings that do come up when searched are far from the town requested ...i am probably the only listing in the town...i am extremely frustrated as i can't seem to find an answer anywhere and no number to fone for help

[Dede0]

@Linky0, it looks like you've deactivated or deleted your listing. Or maybe you never quite finished it? That might be why it doesn't show up in searches...

[Linky0]

thanks Dede...i actually had 2 listings initally by mistake, so i deleted the one....but maybe that is where the problem has arisen.

think i must delete what i see as my  listing and start all over again....what do you think?

[Linky0]

@Dede0

[Dede0]

Yes, @Linky0?