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

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ted307  I don't know if you remember but a few years ago Airbnb had so-called circles and it was great.  There was a "Family circle" with kid-friendly places, then a "business circle" with self check-in and working table, and I think it was also a "pet-friendly" circle .

Unfortunately, the idea was abandoned, too bad because a "business circle" would be great for digital nomads especially if the self-check-in option wouldn't be required

[Ted307]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

We have been hosting for only 2 years, so I do not remember those marketing ploys. We have been guests on Air for about 7 years, but did not pay as much attention then to all these things!

[Annie1372]

@Ted307 

my point is not so much about the additional charges (which I dislike anyway)  but more about the fact that it is not the quality (stars) of the host and it’s house that will lead the futur guest to a house and then a booking but more the dept of the host pocket.

currently, we (the hosts) are only paying AirBNB when we have a booking.

with the proposed model, we would have to pay monthly even without any gars tu of futur booking 

very sad business model change

[Jenny]

Hi @Robin4 

Thanks for sharing your experience of how the most recent update has impacted you.

We've been collecting feedback to pass onto the product team over the last week or so, and I've made sure that yours (along with any other from this post) has been passed along.

Jenny

[Robin129]

@Jenny please tell your team to pay attention to @Robin4 's comments. He has years of experience, and knows of what he speaks. 

After a long covid break, which caused the loss of super host status, I reopened my calendar. My views were just starting to rebound when this new, and IMHO unnecessary update occured. I saw an immediate, sharp drop in views.

Like many others, my listing does not fit comfortably in the new categories. Most of my guests are one night stays, traveling north to south. I just added a workspace to increase my potential. I am considering a dedicated electrical outlet for EV so guests can charge up. But, what's the point if no one can find me? I am not a volunteer. I need to make a profit as well.

When I search from another PC, using Chrome or Firefox, my listing doesn't show at all unless I zoom the map in. Another thread has a comment from some admin that asks for two weeks to let the AI learn. That time is about up. 

Honestly, why doesn't Airbnb just tell us they don't want home share hosts anymore? They are doing everything in their power to run us to other platforms. Personally, I am pushing direct book as much as I can. If I opt for paid advertisements it will be with the local tourism office, not this company. 

[Jenny]

Hi @Robin129 

Absolutely - @Robin4's feedback along with the subsequent replies from everyone is important - I passed the details of the post along yesterday.  It's in the right hands.

Jenny

[Ann72]

@Jenny - do you know why certain posts have this sentence tagged on at the end?  It's been happening randomly to different posters for the last couple of weeks:  "That's how I look at most guests, like cousins. And you know, some of those cousins are kooks."

[Robin129]

@Ann72 - that is at the end of MY posts. It is my signature line. 

[Fred13]

The progressive, but obvious slowdown of the last 2-3 months I always saw as a direct consequence of the multitudes of bad turns the U.S. economy has taken lately because of the many lousy decisions it has made. Granted it is quite hard to connect the right dots nowadays since so much is happening all at once, so who knows. 

I see the recent Airbnb change as an added feature not eliminating the singular old way of choosing location first, then choosing a price bracket, etc., since it is still there. This new way is a very good way for Airbnb to make visitors aware of the broad range of offering it now has in its arsenal, which is good for the brand. There are so many different types of offerings nowadays, their focus appears to be is to at least to make the public aware of them.

Indirectly and in the long run it will help everyone, though in the short term it may shift people to book places otherwise they would never would have fathomed - so easily and in such an organized way.

We will see.

[Richard2341]

I dont have an issue, with the categories. If people want to search that way, fine. 

At least though give hosts the chance to pick the category they are in. At the moment, we have no idea.

I have no data to back this up, but i still think most people ignore categories and still use location and dates.  If this is correct, it does not explain why people all of a sudden are getting 0 bookings and only a fraction of page views.

[Emilia42]

@Richard2341 I agree with you. I don't think the categories are the issue (I don't mind them either) and I think a lot of people on these posts are missing the point. The biggest issue is that something in the search algorithm has changed with the new update. In my case, my listing is searchable and appears high on the list when users specifically input my town. But for some reason, visitors to the nearby highly trafficked tourist region are no longer seeing my listing. They are being directed elsewhere. So I am no longer getting the vast amount of bookings that this market segment provided me with in the past. 

[Mark116]

@Emilia42   The categories is only good if it is capturing 97% or higher of the listings that belong in the category.  But if huge numbers of cabins are not in cabins and lakefront are not in lakefront, then it doesn't work.  The new function with the map search also seems very flawed as many people report that no listings at all show up when there are dozens that should be shown.

[Emilia42]

@Mark116 You're right they need to be working correctly. Like @Richard2341, I still believe that many people are searching the old way, but of course, no data to back that up. 

[Debra300]

@Emilia42,

We've received two reservations since the May 11 launch of the redesigned site.  I can tell that the guests had to do conventional searches to find our place.  The first booking is for dates surrounding Carnival, and the arrival and departure dates are weekdays.  Our guesthouse suites appear in the All homes and Tropical categories, and our placement in the search results varies depending upon the algorithm, but usually near the middle to latter pages.  

The other reservation is for our long-term only Atlanta apartment.  It usually appears pretty high in the search results, but is only in the All homes category, because Airbnb doesn't have long-term, HAFH (home away from home) or Temporary home categories.  Which is strange considering that they have an ongoing Work and Live Anywhere initiative.  Long-term guests almost always specify their dates, and usually select quite a few amenities and preferences in the search filters.

Overall, our listing views and reservations have been significantly reduced since we re-opened in July 2021.  So, these two reservations are consistent with the pre-existing activity that we've been experiencing from this platform, consistent apartment rental, and very sparse guesthouse bookings.  We should start to see an uptick bookings since school summer breaks are starting in North America and Europe, but I have a feeling that they will come from other platforms.

[Richard2341]

I went through each category for my local area. I see houses listed as cabins. 

The biggest issue though is that only a fraction of listings are categorized. I have no idea how they are defining categories. Title, images, review, description doesn't seem to be helping, otherwise my listing would be under golfing.

My hunch is that only the listings that are categorized are showing as being available to book.