Hi! There is a huge issue in how Airbnb maps out homes in upstate New York. Firstly, Airbnb designates Catskills & Hudson Valley as one region when they are two totally different areas. We are talking about an elevation change of over 3,000 feet! Catskill Mountains has skiing and because of the elevation change the area has sweeping vistas of the Hudson valley. Multiple times over one when searches for "Catskill Mountains" in Airbnb, lots of homes that are purely in the Hudson Valley show up.
In fact, a lot of homes that are located in the Valley will claim that they are in the "Catskills" but this is not so. Ironically, homes that are actually located on the mountain in the actual Catskills can't claim that they are in the Hudson Valley (because how can you claim to be in a valley when you are on top of a mountain?). This issue hurts the guest consumer because if one were to book a place based upon where Airbnb told me the "Catskill Mountains" were one could be disappointed when they end up in the valley and still have to drive up the mountain to get to certain hiking trails and the ski resorts.
This is not a knock on the Hudson Valley, it's a great area with many beautiful sites and things to do, but you can't have homes listed on Airbnb that are in the valley label themselves as "Catskill" homes. It doesn't work the other way around. A home on top of the mountain can't claim to be in the Hudson Valley. I have searched "Catskill Mountains" multiple times on Airbnb and my home as well as quite a few others that I know are located on the mountain do not show up at all in the listing results instead there's a lot of homes that are in the Hudson Valley that show up. Point and example, when you search for homes in "Catskill Mountains" quite a few places in Kerhonkson, NY show up. Kerhonkson, NY is NOT in the Catskills, the town's elevation is 1) ~250 feet above sea level (this hardly qualifies as being in/on a mountain) 2) it is not located in the Catskills State Park 3) Wikipedia labels it as being inside of the Hudson Valley.
Airbnb needs to correct this issue to be fair to hosts in the Catskills and provide the correct location/transparency to the guest consumer by properly labeling where homes are by region. I propose the following solution: Airbnb separate Catskill Mountains & Hudson Valley. Currently, it is lumped into one region. Airbnb should create a methodology based upon elevation and location to determine which homes are in the Catskills and which are in the valley.
For an initial crack at this list perhaps start with what is listed in wikipedia for Catskill Mountains: Ashland, Cairo, Colechester, Denning, Durham, Halcott, Hardenburgh, Hunter, Hurley, Jewett, Kingston, Lexington, Marbletown, Middletown, Neversink, Olive, Prattsville, Rochester, Rockland, Saugerties, Shandaken, Wawarsing Windham, Ellenville, Fleischmanns, Hunter, Margaretville, Tannersville.
