Bookings down over 75%. Airbnb search function not working properly.

[David1747]

My bookings have dropped more than 75% in the past 10-14 days. I was puzzled as to why that was because May is normally a busy month for us. Last night a previous guest messaged me to say they wanted to book again, but could no longer find us on Airbnb. So I switched to traveling mode and searched for properties in San Mateo, Rizal, which is the city where we are located in the Philippines. Normally when I do that about 20 listings appear, two of which are the two rooms in our house that are on Airbnb. But when I searched for San Mateo, Rizal last night, more than 2,000 listings appeared from all over the Manila metropolitan area - some of which are more than two hours drive from our place. I determined that we were still listed, but because we were now buried in more than 2,000 listings over a vast urban area of more than 12 million people, it was little wonder that the guest couldn't find us.

Our property is located up on a hill outside the urban area of San Mateo, close to the boundary of another city on the hill called Antipolo, and I know that most of our guests find us when they search for Antipolo, Rizal (because San Mateo is not well known for having hilltop propoerties, whereas Antipolo is). So I then searched for Antipolo, because normally when I do that I see that we are listed on either the first or second page because we are very close to Antipolo and we have SuperHost status.

I was shocked when I saw that ALL of the properties listed were not in Antipolo, but in another province called Laguna about 4-5 hours drive away. I checked on my desktop and on my phone app - there was not a single property listed from our province of Rizal at all.

So this explained why I was getting very few new bookings (in the past few days new bookings have dropped to zero).

I immediately messaged AIrbnb customer service to advise them of the above and to ask what was happening. Normally if I email customer service I get a reply in 10-15 minutes, but last night I got no response. This morning when I awoke I expected to see a reply, but still nothing, so I assume this must be an issue they are investigating before replying. It's now been 15 hours since I messaged them.

I am wondering whether hosts in other countries are having the same problem, or whether this breakdown in the search function is happening only in the Philippines. If it has happened elsewhere, have you received any feedback from Airbnb yet?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@David1747 

I've seen other similar posts from all over the world. Listings between 2 cities, outside the cities, etc... have the same problem and are often listed under the wrong city.

Listings in the cities have another problem - if they are not located in the strict city center then they are not shown. Even if you zoom in the particular area on the map you will only see listings which are the closest to the city center ( on the very edge of the map). The number of listings shown on the map is 20, if you want to see more you have to scroll down the list, select another page and then look at the map again. As a result, poor hosts outside the city center have very low chances for booking.

Differnt booking platforms have different maps and listings are shown differently. 

[Robert1664]

We have the same problem! We can't find our house when we search for it in our area!

What should we do?

[Jeff158]

@Robert1664  It takes a while for a new listing to appear in search but its up and running now, in 4th place for Anderson

This is the direct link to your place for friends/family etc

 https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/34689768

[Firmino0]

I have a similar problem. My apartment is hidden over a million of them. It shows 160€ price, but when the guest selects it. It shows 100 ( the correct price). Why?

[Jillie1]

I too have had  the same problem.  Very few bookings  so I did a search myself for apartments in Harrogate to see where mine was listed.  I couldn't find it at all and got ones out of Harrogate!   I checked the map and no marker either.   I will have to "close shop" if this carries on.

[Catherine67]

I have been fighting with Air B&B since last October to fix this - it has affected me in rurual Cornwall as well. They said it was a programming glitch and that tehy would fix it. It was fixed for about ten days then it cropped up again.

Our prorty doesnt shwo on the map either.

This is not the service I expect. But sadly Air B&B seems to larelgy have a staff of gate-keeper phone  opreatives rather than empowered and well trained agents who can address real issues.

[Cristina1049]

Hi,

Same for me from the moment I received the title Superhost. Airbnb customer service reply very late, after days...

I am awaiting that one case manager keep my situation in his hands, I am talking about April!

[Marissa91]

I had a 

%97 booking rate a year ago today.  Now my booking rate has been fluctuating between %16-%36 over the last month or so.  I have 4.3 overall star rating I am 0.5 miles from the city limits so I am actually in the county I wonder if that is the sudden issue.   I used to stay booked around a month in advance.  Now Im barely filling in the days here and there and only making %60 of what I was clearing back in November- January.  I have 3 listings all in same location. I have been adjusting all kinds of settings trying to troubleshoot the issue of suddenly not getting bookings on my 3 listings. What should I do?  This is becoming very stressful since I have all my eggs in one basket at the moment.  Open to any/all suggestions to get my booking rate back where it was before. ... %97  from the current %16. 

[Melinda119]

I just found out my listing is not showing up!! I have called daily since 6/8/19  and AIRBNB has yet to fix the problem - my guests that have current bookings cannot see the listing - and past guests have texted me wanting to rebook and they cannot find the listing.  So I reached out to friends across the country (TX/MO/WA) and gave them specific criteria to look for that I know will make it 20 or less listings - and NOPE still cannot see it - tried sending my link and they get an error code! 

I am a super host have a 4.9* rating overall - 54 5* reviews (we only started this August 2018)
January - 2656 views  -- 89% Occupancy rate 
Feb - 1236 views --62% occupancy (typical of our area unless you have snowbirds) 

Mar- 1835 views --93% occupany 
April - 311 -- 96% occupancy

May - 8 views and those were all ME - trying to figure out what was happening! 97% occupancy 

June - 0 views -- 83% -- I am sure this is much lower because NO ONE CAN SEE MY LISTING! 

We have future bookings (not fully booked liek we have been) thru September and then NOTHING!!! 

I am posting this information everywhere I can think of -to try and get this resolved -- 

@AIRBNB  #AIRBNB -- I hope you are listening / watching these threads! 

[Stephanie1213]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem. I have been with Airbnb for 1 year it’s been good, and now I am no longer visible. But I found that if I do a search with lots of filters, then I can find my villa. It’s probably about the algorithm... I have contacted Airbnb asking them to make my villa visible without filters, but no help... don’t know what to do...

[Ana1136]

@Stephanie1213 you have a lovely villa and great reviews. Maybe try adding new photos, editing your descriptions, maybe add something new, work on your listing. Have you checked if you have a decrease in views under "Progress"? 

[Stephanie1213]

@Ana1136 , I cannot see in progress the stats for views...

also, by changing all of the above, will that change my visibility? Is it about keywords? 

Add something new? Do you have a suggestion? Work on your listing... what does this mean? Thank you. 

[Christine2005]

Same here! I will hit super host in October and now it's crickets.  Do they push people to the newer listings? 

I hope it is fixed soon.  

[Alastair0]

You are not alone and we too don’t know what else we can do as bookings dropped so much so fast. Why guests can’t find our listing now is incredible as we have great reviews good prices and yet the algorithm isn’t promoting us. Something has to change and soon before we all go out of business.