I have had a response from Customer Service essentially saying there is nothing they can do. However our second room is now appearing on the first page of listed properties for a search on Nong Prue District. They have been doing something and I will wait to see how long it lasts. In the interim we still have a problem. The first property listed is located in Suphanburi. That is not the Nong Prue district, it is not even the Kanchanaburi Province. It is an hour and a halfs drive from the search area. And the question that must be asked who in the back office actually believes that this is what AirBnB's customers are looking for?
As I wrote to CS, my point is:
"If there is nothing you can do about that, there is something seriously wrong with the policies and procedures at AirBnB. You are aware of the problem. But you can do nothing?
Have you searched for Nong Prue District? Our listing for Overnighter is currently on page two. That has climbed from nowhere, after activating Instant Booking and updating the profile.
It could be solved by ensuring that the search filters list all properties in a particular town first, all properties in the specified district next and the filler thereafter. If you then want to give preference to hosts that are more active than others, do so. But within parameters that are simple common sense. Whoever makes these decisions is overlooking the fact that in outlying areas, you don’t want to apply “rules” that have been dreamt up as an incentive for hosts to update their details regularly.
The fact that AirBnB cannot provide the guest with the information they are looking for, except in high density traffic areas, means that the site is a bad choice for anyone travelling the road less travelled. That being an emerging market that AirBnB does not apparently cater for."