Airbnb Search Not Showing All Properties

[Jen5]

I observed a problem with Airbnb's search engine that I reported to the community about a month ago. The person who assisted recognized the problem and passed the issue on to Airbnb. Unfortunately, after more than a dozen communications, the people at Airbnb can't see what the problem is and it's infuriating. So I'm posting the issue here again in the hopes that a second (or third or fourth...) voice will help Airbnb recognize the issue.

So here's how to see the problem: Do a search for any zip code and enter specific travel dates (choose a 3-5 day trip). Select 1 guest and take a screen shot of the resulting map. Now change the number of guests to 6 and take a screen shot of the map. When you compare the two screen shots, what you will see is that a lot of bigger accommodations are not shown in the search for one guest. This is a problem for guests and hosts alike as it assumes that a solo traveler won't want a house for 6 people so they're not being shown those results. If a single traveler or a couple wants a nice big house and they don't see it on Airbnb, they'll go elsewhere so this is undoubtedly costing Airbnb (and hosts) lots of money.

Below are screen shots for you to compare. For some bizarre reason, nobody at Airbnb can see the difference between these screen shots even though it's clear that the map for 6 guests shows properties for $2900, $1500 and $1200 that aren't being shown to the solo traveler.

Can others in the community please save my sanity by confirming to Airbnb that this IS a problem that needs to be fixed. I can't handle any more emails from them telling me there's nothing wrong.

[Luis-and-Tati0]

Hi @Nix1

I totally understand what you are saying... I'm just replying here with my point of view...

According to https://www.airdna.co the city where I have my houses has over 9000 listings... Can you imagine 9000 pegs on the map? 

https://www.airdna.co/city/us/florida/kissimmee

They show only a few at a time so the map is not too cluttered, I know they rotate listing but this rotation is not well explained nowhere how it works... If they explain I'm  pretty sure people will take advantage of the system...

Luis

[Maria936]

I have a similar problem and it's very frustrating. There are a few listings that won't come up on my search even though it fits my criteria (date, guests, price, location, etc). I have even tried to zoom in and refresh but still the same issue. For example, there's a listing I read about on Instagram, and it will not show on my search, but if I google some key words from the listing I can access 

[Mike216]

I know it is terrible Maria, so many people have this problem and complain about it but AIRBNB does absolutely NOTHING to address the issue.

[Maria936]

Hmmm.. do you have any tips about that? The only thing I found helpful to see more listing variety was to search through a friend's account or outside the Airbnb app. Otherwise I keep getting the same listings when I know there are so many more options out there

[Mike216]

Sorry Maria, I'm all out of tips! Good luck.

[Jennifer451]

When doing a search on Airbnb, you cannot go to NEXT page of search. For example, I did a search that showed 146 hits and I could only view 10 on the first page eventhough there were page numbers and a forward button. It is frozen. I went on a different search engine and same thing happened. Please fix.

[Jennifer451]

When searching on Airbnb in Belize. They are showing the island of Ambergris Caye as being in the Corozal District. The Corozal district is on the mainland, no where near the island. Please correct longitude and latitude coordinates for Ambergris Caye, Belize (San Pedro, Belize).

Thanks

[Jennifer451]

Further to my post. Ambergris Caye, Belize is in the Belize district not the Corozal District. Airbnb please fix.

Thanks,

Jennifer

[Mike216]

Hello Jennifer,

                           You are unlikely to get any help from AIRBNB by posting about your problem here - this is basically a forum for users. To try and get your problem solved you need to contact AIRBNB directly.

Good luck,

Mike

[Rakshith0]

I think its best to search for flats using the Map rather than the results that show up. There are many flats on the Map which doesnot show up in the search. 

It makes it easier to move the map and also see where exactly the flats are located. 

[Maria936]

In my case it doesnt even show it on the map, but I knew other listings existed through other travel blogs. When I change computers or someone else looks in the same area they get different results. Maybe airbnb doesnt want to overwhelm the users with too many results 

[Chris581]

I am also very frustrated with the search options. it seems ridiculous to have to keep tweeking the filters to find all of the available houses in a decent size area of Sacramento that doesn't have more that 15 total houses available in the first place(land Park)

there should absolutly be an option to show all homes without restricting it based on guest count. If all the homes for large numbers are booked or look like places I don't want to stay I want to see what is available if we have to get multiple homes. The same goes if I am 1 guest and all the 1 guest homes look bad. I want to see how much it would cost to be in a larger home with out manipulating every filter to make sure I see everything.

I feel like I am not getting the best deal or the best home because I know there may be other homes I didn't get to see because the search engine decided that wasn't a "good fit" for me. I wish it was like any other shopping experience where I could see what my options are and use filters to narrow it down from there if I choose. 

Hopefully they work on this.

[Najib7]

Hey folks, 

Just wondering if any of your search issues have been resolved, I see some of you have had issues since 2016 ... The reason is I just noticed after months of pretty much no bookings received for my ppty in airbnb that it shows up in the sesarch , when searching the name of the area where it is, only shows up if the client fiddles a bit with with the map, when it's located right in the centre of the area and normally should show up straight away especially when not using any filters.

I had a few customer service agents look into it but all missing the point and talking to me about what to do to ensure my ppty climbs in the rankings !  I need it to show first before I can start talking about rankings , I am not even visible at this point . Very frustrating ! 

Let me know ....

Thank you

[Luis-and-Tati0]

Hi @Najib7

Like I mentioned before and it has not changed much since. Airbnb search algorithms are crazy and they will try to match as much as possible a house to a specific guest,  based on the guest's dates of travel and your availability, personal preferences, age, group size, price and much (MUCH more)...

Their search results are not as simple appears...

When I search your area (without dates or filters) Airbnb returned 300+ houses, 17 pages with 18 results each page...

When was the last time you browsed the second page of a Google or Bing search result? Have you ever gone as far as the 3rd or 4th page? For the same reason and for their success (Airbnb), they need to make sure the guest will be interested in the first results and book a house fast before changing their mind and looking a different service/platform (Hotels, VRBO, HomeAway, etc)

Lowering the price for a few months will go a long way since guests will mostly book mostly the cheaper houses first, after you build nice and reputable reviews you can increase the price little by little until you find a balance between good money and good occupancy rate... 

You listing appears have 4.2 stars (the minimum Airbnb officially accepts), try to improve on that and you will be better placed on the search results.

Try to improve your profile by connecting to your google and facebook profile and if available in your region also verifying a valid government ID.

Happy hosting

Luis

[Mike1034]

AirBnb still has this location issue especially for the areas with less listings. The search zooms out the map trying to include large number of results. This will help them to look good to the travellers. Actually it is a big issue for a traveller who wants to find a house in the destination city. Listings returned from search don't have city name of distance to the city center he puts in the searched results list. A traveller does not know where the property is actually located without selecting it and see the details on the map section. It slows down a traveller to find a property he likes to stay. 

My suggestion is to ask AirBnb at least a distance to the location city center a guest entered and the city name if it is not the city a guest entered to the returned search results. This will help guests to speed up with their searches.

I suggest that we all take an action to send the feedback to AirBnb through their feedback page. Then they will start looking into into this issue. Here is the link

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback