Where do we go from here!

[Robin4]

I have been away for the best part of a month so my knowledge of current events is somewhat lacking but, I have been puzzled during my time away that my listing views have dropped from  30-50 per day to less than 10, some days just 2 or 3! On doing some checking I have come across a thing called 'Summer 2022 release search filters' which seems to answer my observations. The programming geniuses have tampered with the search page yet again.

For the life of me I will never understand why Airbnb go out of their way to upset their long term experienced, profitable hosts. Every time they tinker with the program they lose sight of the fact that we hosts have to adapt what we do and say to accommodate their changes and work with them. They don't reward us, they punish us for putting in the time and effort to make it work and be successful.

Because I don't automatically fit one of their tidy little nebulous search boxes, my listing has dropped from  page 1 down to page 5 in a search of our area.

A guest used to be able to search for a listing they liked the look of and could afford, now they can only search by its availability. Not every guest wants to stay in a listing for one week which now appears to be the default criteria.......80% of mine only want to stay for one or two nights! Listings with less than a handful of reviews are given preferential search placement specifically because of some quirky feature. I believe after reading the new TOS Airbnb have actually revived that old chestnut where hosts could buy their search placement as per this, direct from the current TOS......

Whereas, with my previously full monthly booking calendar, my 6 years of loyalty and 500+ Airbnb reviews sees me in a situation where my bookings are drying up. The search page no longer says how many reviews I have, it doesn't mention I am a Superhost, it removes all the hard work I have put into making a desirable Airbnb listing for guests to book. For goodness sake what **[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines] keep coming up with these ideas.....Airbnb are actively trying to destroy my business and the good rapport I have built up with Airbnb in this local community of mine!!'

I don't know where I go from here........I am sick and tired of trying to re-invent the wheel every time Airbnb let their programmers loose on some aspect of the platform. I don't want to but, I am going to have to look for other hosting options.....Airbnb, I have been good to you but, you have worn me down! 

Cheers........Rob

[Stephanie365]

@Jenny  You mean respect the AirBNB staff that DISrespects me by defending a guest who attempted multiple times to extort money from a host and then allows them to stay on the platform penalty free? And removes my review warning other hosts?

Respect the AirBNB staff who is now telling me I can't charge a security deposit to protect my home and possessions from guests who have the attitude, "It's not my stuff. If it gets broken, who cares?!" When the guest has ZERO financial incentive to be respectful, they won't be. The same AirBNB staff who has sole autonomy to decide whether or not I should even be reimbursed after a guest damages my home?

Respect the AirBNB staff who is now telling me I can't ask to see ID for the person I'm allowing to stay in MY home with ME? Because apparently they don't respect me enough to allow me to obtain information that would help me determine if the person staying with me is a registered sex offender?

Respect the AirBNB staff who arbitrarily decided to develop categories for listings and then tells me a machine gets to choose my category for me? Because apparently they don't respect me, a REAL PERSON to make an educated choice as to which category my own home belongs in?

If all of this isn't disrespectful, I don't know what is.

[Jenny]

Hi @Stephanie365 

I’m really sorry to hear about what’s happened to you.  If you have specific feedback about your experience with particular agents then we’d happily take more details from you privately so we can make sure the feedback goes to the right place. 

While I appreciate your frustration, the guidelines are on the CC to ensure it remains a constructive and healthy place of discussion where everyone can share experiences and feedback, so please do keep them in mind going forward. 

Feel free to contact me or anyone else in the CC team if you'd like to discuss your specific concerns further, but please note that I’ll be out of the office for a week, so if you need an urgent response it’d be best to contact one of the other OCM.

Jenny

[Richard2341]

@Jenny  When are we going to hear back re this issue? People want explanations as to what is happening here.

[Inna22]

Old Navy just admitted that their completely re-vamped sizing strategy that they thought would put all the competition behind for years has been a flop. Airbnb is not a company to admit to anything being wrong. I tried to book my own stay a couple of days ago and if I didn’t go to all those launch webinars and didn’t read about it here, I would not have figured out how to book a regular stay at a town I have already picked out. I’m pretty sure most of our guests did not go to any webinars or read any tutorials

[Inna22]

One thing we all need to remember is that as long as Airbnb‘s overall level of bookings is not going down, they could care less if it is us getting a reservation, corporate host or a one time casual Airbnb user who wants to rent the house while on vacation themselves. All the complaining about experienced hosts not getting bookings I’m sure it’s falling on deaf ears

[Robin4]

@Inna22 

What you are saying Inna is perfectly logical with the advantage of hindsight and you are possibly right.

I would love to be a fly on the wall when booking stats are compiled in a months time. 

This free-fall in host bookings over the past month is not just a local thing you can nail on the US economy or the dreadful conflict in Ukraine, from the posts here on the CC it is universal, reports are coming from the UK, Europe, Australia, NZ.

It will be interesting to revisit this conversation over the coming months.

Cheers.......Rob 

[Fred13]

^^"...I’m sure it’s falling on deaf ears."

Perhaps not on deaf ears, but Airbnb just didn't pull this out of a rabbit hat and chose to do something wild for the thrill of it. This is a few years late actually. See https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-2022-summer-release-highlights/ . 

In actuality, Airbnb today has a wider variety of places to stay in than anyone else in the world, but thus far they could only be found only by someone searching conventionally, by clicking price labels on a map of where they were intending to be. A case can be made that Airbnb has been the impetus for many of these out-of-the-norm places to be created in the first place, so why not take the initiative to find them easily?

What they have done now is nothing more then add a ribbon of iconized 'filters' at the top of the search/introductory page and now provide a shortcut to such places by categorizing them. It is an addition, not a replacement.

A common sentiment now appears to be that making the visitor aware of such places so easily surely steals viewing/bookings from others, and perhaps that Airbnb is getting away from its original form. Today Airbnb is a different business then 10 years ago and maybe, just maybe it can't afford to only support one type of host nor to limit the search function of their present-day vast host inventory using only one way. 

The results for some hosts appears to be negative since their search views have dropped significantly, but it does beg the question was this before or after the start of this program. I have taken the time to read every Airbnb forum page (here, Airhost, Reddit, etc) and is not quite clear the timeline of the drop in views (and bookings) or is it due to a lot of other things going on which people may be forgetting.

    Just in NA, it is a U.S. mid-term election year, there is a war going on, Wall Street (& 401Ks) plummeting,  inflation is here, so is stagnation, battle of the education of the next generation of kids, crime, corruption of governmental institutions, remaining Covid-related issues, etc. I posted here weeks ago - get ready for a tough summer/Fall. It's here. 

   Yes, the glitches are not so funny, my place appears as an island but not in other 'water' categories, and subject to other weird outcomes, the views (and bookings) are abysmal, first time in 7 years we do have openings in the next 3 months (not like 3 years in the past).  It will take them sometime to clean this up, what else is new.

  Good luck to all in this new journey.

[Mark116]

@Fred13  I would be incline to agree with you, except that Airbnb has a documented history of failure in terms of both their big and their small updates.  Select, Plus and Luxe are all if not gone, they're demoted, and all those roll outs were terrible.  Airbnb very, very often 'updates' the site and the updates reduce basic functionality.  So I would not be too sure this wasn't a SF brainstorm session taken to extremes.  Sure, WFH is going to increase from now on, but it probably will never be the majority of jobs and it seems doubtful it would ever replace vacation and event based travel.  The new search function is also too complicated, if you have to look around for the basic location/date search [I found it by accident after a few clicks a map of the world came up and so I could click on the country]....it will turn off casual browsers.

[Fred13]

@Mark116 In 7 years I can't think of an Airbnb update without much chaos or upheaval. I think it is part of its culture. 😉

[Stephanie365]

@Fred13 

---

In actuality, Airbnb today has a wider variety of places to stay in than anyone else in the world, but thus far they could only be found only by someone searching conventionally, by clicking price labels on a map of where they were intending to be. A case can be made that Airbnb has been the impetus for many of these out-of-the-norm places to be created in the first place, so why not take the initiative to find them easily?

While I can certainly understand their wanting to promote premium or unique properties (earning them a premium commission) and making them easy to find, they are catering to the 1%ers. That 1% of the population with extreme wealth.  I am quite certain 97% of the folks on AirBNB will not be booking a home in Joshua Tree for $16,000 per night.  Whoops, it's down to only $8500! A bargain at twice the price! And these premium properties are not the roots of the original AirBNB philosophy. While I certainly understand a company needs to grow to remain relevant, when the opening page is nothing but listings that the vast majority of users can't even dream of affording, it's definitely a slap in the face to the hosts who have been on AirBNB for years.  

What they have done now is nothing more then add a ribbon of iconized 'filters' at the top of the search/introductory page and now provide a shortcut to such places by categorizing them. It is an addition, not a replacement.

And perhaps that is where they should put the premium properties? If you can afford them, click here. They should be highlighting Super Host properties from all different price REALISTIC points on the opening page (like the $1-300 per night places) , not just properties designed by people no one has heard of commanding $500 and up. Sure throw in one or two obscenely priced places, but the rest of the homes they feature should be the more common and reasonably priced accommodations hosted by regular folks that most guests would be looking for. And they should change them up each time the webpage is opened. Right now, it's the same properties over and over again. Pretty classist.

The most frustrating things are the search default is a weeks stay and the random dates provided. It gives the impressions (especially to newer users) that these properties can only be booked for a week and this is the closest date available. I'm not understanding why some properties are popping up with dates to book in April 2023.... useless!

A common sentiment now appears to be that making the visitor aware of such places so easily surely steals viewing/bookings from others, and perhaps that Airbnb is getting away from its original form. Today Airbnb is a different business then 10 years ago and maybe, just maybe it can't afford to only support one type of host nor to limit the search function of their present-day vast host inventory using only one way. 

Not so much stealing as wasting my time making me wade through unrealistic properties, extra time removing the pre-programmed dates to look for dates I want,  overriding the week long length of stay.... And the split stay feature is beyond annoying. You want to find out about one property and it keeps insisting on popping up information about another property. Thanks, but if I want to split my stay, I will look for the second property myself.

The results for some hosts appears to be negative since their search views have dropped significantly, but it does beg the question was this before or after the start of this program. I have taken the time to read every Airbnb forum page (here, Airhost, Reddit, etc) and is not quite clear the timeline of the drop in views (and bookings) or is it due to a lot of other things going on which people may be forgetting.

    Just in NA, it is a U.S. mid-term election year, there is a war going on, Wall Street (& 401Ks) plummeting,  inflation is here, so is stagnation, battle of the education of the next generation of kids, crime, corruption of governmental institutions, remaining Covid-related issues, etc. I posted here weeks ago - get ready for a tough summer/Fall. It's here. 

Looking at my metrics, the drop in views coincides with the new rollout. Gas prices have been stupid for a while. The stock market has been on a roller coaster for a while. The Ukraine issue has been around for a while. COVID has been here for a few years. But my views have dropped significantly only in the past month. While my place certainly will never achieve the traffic your paradise will garner, when my views are down 30% while vacation season is ramping up that's a huge hit for me.

   Yes, the glitches are not so funny, my place appears as an island but not in other 'water' categories, and subject to other weird outcomes, the views (and bookings) are abysmal, first time in 7 years we do have openings in the next 3 months (not like 3 years in the past).  It will take them sometime to clean this up, what else is new.

This is something that was obviously never beta tested, or it if was, it was tested on Checky's cronies who probably go along with whatever he wants. The really, really bad thing about these categories is we aren't allowed to select our own. And coinciding with the rollout of these new categories is AirCover for Guests.  "If at any time during your stay you find your listing isn’t as advertised you’ll have three days to report it and we’ll find you a similar or better home, or we’ll refund you."  So if the Dumbbots decide that someone's property is an "amazing view" and the amazing view is a New York City dumpster-filled alley between two skyscrapers.... even though the host never said anything about the view, the HOST stands to lose the most when their property is incorrectly categorized. Guest wants to cancel. Guest gets refunded. Host gets a bad review. All because some machine got it wrong. What recourse will the host have?

Good luck to all in this new journey.

Seriously! I think we're going to need it! 🙂 

[Peggy137]

Yes, the economy and world situation have an effect, but I've been booked solid since those things started, and in fact booked solid since I listed my house. 
I'm a superhost, with a great place in a great spot in Sedona, and keep my prices accessible. 

My bookings fell off a cliff pretty dramatically. I have nothing from the beginning of June onwards. This never, never happened before. I have dropped my prices to be some of the lowest (except for the rent a tents) in the area and still no bookings.

My friend checked on her airbnb app, my place didn't come up. 

Seeing as a huge number of us are having the same issue, the only thing I can attribute it to is the new algorithm. Unfortunately I don't think I can wait till this gets sorted out in 3 months, so am looking to other sites and opportunities.

[Ann72]

@Fred13  In the second half of 2021, I saw booking patterns change.  They seemed to revert to 2019, pre-pandemic patterns.  I put it down to several things:

* People could again travel internationally - no need to come to fancy-pants Maine 🙂

* In spite of that, there was still uncertainty about booking trips in advance - the economy, the disruptions of the last two years, the continued unpredictable surges

* People were burned by planning and having to cancel trips over the last couple of years (not just on Airbnb)

* The last two years have led to a general malaise that's hard to shake

* I blocked my calendar for many months because I have to live at my Airbnb during a renovation at my apartment

All of these factors and others combined to change the patterns we'd seen for two years.  This year I have more returning guests than ever before (4 times as many), and most of them booked last fall.  Over time, the calendar has steadily filled up.  I have fewer nights booked this year than in 2019 (partly due to the blocked dates), but my receivables are higher than in 2019 (due to higher nightly prices).  I won't achieve 2021 income, but that was exceptional.  2019 was a very good year so I'm okay with exceeding that mark.

Here's the last two years in views.  Down by 24,000 this year over the previous year.  That's the difference in the booking patterns going back a year.

[Fred13]

Very interesting @Ann72.  I show a similar pattern and also embarked on a higher price/less booking/ but just as profitable cycle as of last year. Page views were down by 50,432, I attributed to the fact I  didn't get the usual annual bump from some article or free advertising from Airbnb, Thrillist, Pinterest, etc. as of Fall 2021. Perhaps something else is going on. The most pleasant discovery however is the effect of a higher price; oftentimes less (bookings) is more (revenue).

[Amanda660]

I have a grand total of 5 days booked for June - bookings have fallen off a cliff and I’m gutted.  

I’ve reduced my nightly rate and reduced the minimum stay to 1 night (excluding weekends) to no avail.  Masses of June cancellations at the beginning of May but no one can see my listing to get the dates booked up again. 

Fortunately July and August were buoyant with bookings prior to the rollout - here’s hoping they don’t cancel.  Next to nothing for September despite great reviews. 

[Fred13]

   The trickiest thing in life is to connect the right 'dots' then the proper reaction is possible.  I started noticing a change in the rental marketplace as of the  beginning of March, and I think that is when consumer confidence started waning, since then things gotten worse.  That is also when I started seeing many posts in all forums about the bookings mysteriously starting to dry up.

  Whatever the cause and to what degree time is causing what is happening now, time will tell, but either way I do believe this is a time for caution.