Airbnb is putting me out of business

Shannon789
Level 2
Post Falls, ID

Airbnb is putting me out of business

I am no longer getting reservations and began looking into why. I had always been very busy as a host and suddenly nothing! When i did a search for Post Falls ID i was shocked that listings in other cities and another state ( although close) came up before my listing in Post Falls. I am so far down in the search that i could hardly find myself. Then to make matters worse they changed my cover photo. I have a spa bathroom with claw foot tub. Because this is my selling point, i provide bubble bath, soaking salts, bath bombs ect. In my reviews its why people book with me. Airbnb decided to choose a cover photo for me OF A COUCH? Im beyond frustrated abd upset. This is how i pay my bills, from my bnb income. Its summer and i should be booked and NOTHING. What a slap in the face that i cant even come up in my own city. 

4 Replies 4
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Shannon789 

 

I noticed you probably changed the main photo already ?

 

If i search on Post Falls for specific dates (I used 1- 6 sept), your listing shows up on the first page (from 960 stays...).  See my search page

 

Not a bad search result !

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Shannon789 

 

Are you searching while logged out? If not, you may be seeing skewed results. Sometimes you even have to clear your cookies/browsing history to see the results the way a guest would. Give that a go and see what happens. You could also check your views under the 'insights/conversion' tab to see if they are up or down. 

 

As to the change of the main photo, are you seeing this when searching with the new categories setting or seeing it if you search the traditional way? It was my understanding that Airbnb is only showing a different lead photo (and even a different listing title) when using one of the category searches. It's supposed to select a photo appropriate to that particular category but doesn't seem to work very well. For example, I noticed when searching the shared homes category that, more often than not, it would show a photo of a living space rather than the bedroom, even though in many cases, the photo was really not selling the listing well. I can see how this would really affect your bookings if guests aren't seeing your main selling point.

 

However, none of this is supposed to happen if you search without categories. 

Alexis646
Level 2
Redmond, WA

Have you tried revamping your listings changing description, re arranging photos, targeting a specific demographic or re titling to something like spa retreat, or couples spa getaway. To bring it back to life for the algorithm. 

Alexis
Rose443
Level 2
Los Angeles, CA

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