Frustrating Booking Experience - Need Ways to Sort Results

[Jude7]

There have been lots of posts from hosts who are frustrated that their listing isn't appearing on searches.  Last night I had a frustrating experience from the other side of the bed!

I am planning some upcoming trips and wanted to do some research to book accommodations through Airbnb - which will be a first for me, although I am an active host. I was very excited to be able to experience the other side of Airbnb as a guest, after having had such pleasurable experiences as a host.

I put in my dates, the basic features I was given to choose from (entire home, 1 bedroom, Instant Book OFF) and price range.  What appeared was what seemed  like a completely random, and overwhelming, list of hundreds of options that I then had to laboriously sort through to find what I was looking for.

I would have liked an opportunity to have been able to sort the results by Superhost status, quality of review, numbers of reviews, price.  What should have taken me a relatively short period of time, and given me access to the listings most suited to my needs, instead resulted in an hours long search as I waded through mediocre listings to find the pearls.

It was not a very satisfying experience, and I can understand the frustrations of excellent hosts who are not appearing high in the rankings.  It is those excellent hosts that I wanted to find!  I don't want to wade through pages and pages of mediocre listings from less than committed hosts to find the hosts and the properties that I know will meet my expectations.

Although I was looking forward to an Airbnb experience, it would have been way easier to have used a conventional booking platform to have found accommodations for my upcoming trips.  Perhaps not as fun, but definitely more user friendly and efficient.

I watched the live presentation today from the LA Open about upcoming additions to the Airbnb platform.  I wish the creators would spend more time improving what they already have, rather than coming up with new innovations.

I definitely had a less than positive experience trying to book as a guest, which impacts all of us as hosts.

Jude

PS Although this isn't a hosting issue - ultimately it is - since the inability of guests to easily find the property that  best suits their needs affects every host.  I might have been looking for some of YOU, but couldn't find you because you were buried many pages back and it just wasn't feasable for me to continue searching after a certain period of time. Had I been able to sort my results your listing may have moved up to a place where I could easily find it.

Since the search function affects hosts, I am also posting this on Host Voice.  If you think the search function needs to be improved, please add your voice and thumbprint.  🙂

[David126]

I have had similar issues when trying to locate listings, geography and price but missing many options.

[David-and-Fiona0]

I agree that the platform needs a lot of work. You can select superhosts and price range in the filters though.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Good to experience it as a guest - and yes it's truly overwhelming and you can see so many of the inconsistencies in the platform that make guests stumble and make errors when booking too. We find in the end that rather than search through endless lists we choose on with great reviews in a good location for us and just go with it.

[Jude7]

I agree completely, @Gerry-And-Rashid0, with your search parameters. I know the value of an excellent host, which is why I wanted the option to sort my search results, rather than wading through pages of listings that were not appearing in any discernible order. 

I have aver also posted this suggestion in Host Voice if you think it's valid, @Robert78, @David-and-Fiona0, and @David126.

Filtering by Superhost is a good option, but I was searching in an area that seemed to have few Superhosts, which is why I wanted to be able to sort the results that appeared by numbers of reviews, and their quality. Sorting the results into price order would have also been useful as well.

Jude

[Andrea9]

I also find it very discouraging that when looking for hosts with only positive results that only Super hosts are shown, and then in the non Super  host searches the 5-star hosts (who maybe didn\t make SH status or lost it due to reasons out of their influence) are lumped in with and often showing even lower than  the lesser-star hosts, 

[Robert78]

Right on!

[Amy38]

The way to narrow down is to choose an are of town, zoom in on the map and you will get only places within a reasonable geographic area...after all, you may or may not want to see places 15 miles from the town center or out by the airport.  

[Monica4]

I have been a host for almost four years and last year was on a trip that I would not have been able to get home before dark....so I looked for a Airbnb in the area. It was too frustrating. Many, many hosts with no reviews. The map was just a big bloch of listings that I had to zero in on hoping that something that I wanted would show up. The result..? I stayed in a motel.

I never saw the other side of the fence until then. I strongly believe that the sheer number of unqualified, unresponsive hosts on the platform will be Airbnb's downfall. I was so flustered that I didn't think of checking out the other platforms that I have my listing on! I was so "sure" Airbnb would have somewhere for me to stay overnight that I felt comfortable with.

[Amy38]

@Monica4. I feel your pain.  However, did you pick any options, like superhost? Otherwise, I would pick an area...say near a university or near the interstate and zoom in on the area.  The blob will undifferentiate and you will get choices. 

Abnb has expanded to a point that I think it is going to implode.

[Martin237]

When making our booking, the first problem I found was that when I wrote in a question there was no obvious way to send it.  So I pressed enter, but then I never knew whether my query had been sent or not.  I see that here there is a "post" button, so it is quite obvious what one should do.  I could tell you about a number of other problems I found on your booking system, but I dare say you do not want to know about them!!

[Rose-and-Luc0]

I am now encountering same problems.  whenever I try to make bookings reservations goes straight to the account of my girl friend.  Even if I am a hst veery active, when i give my email address, they wanted copies of my national ID, passport  etc with an instant photo.  My girl friend has closed her account hoping this will help.  Not aat all.  Why is Airbnb not accepting my bookings as "traveller" ??????????????????/

[Rose-and-Luc0]

I am now encountering same problems.  whenever I try to make bookings reservations goes straight to the account of my girl friend.  Even if I am a very active host, when i give my email address, they wanted copies of my national ID, passport  etc with an instant photo.  My girl friend has closed her account hoping this will help.  Not at all.  Why is Airbnb not accepting my bookings as "traveller" ??????????????????/

[Marit-Anne0]

@Rose-and-Luc0

When looking at your profile, you do not have the verified badge.  Both airbnb and most hosts require that you are verified to make a booking.  Doing Instant Book, you have to be verified airbnb way.

[Susan10]

It might be that the hosts you know and wanted were already booked.  I have had former guests text me asking me why my listing wasn't showing up as they wanted to book again on certain dates.  My listing wasn't showing because I was already booked.  When you put the dates in you want to travel, they only show listings that are available. 

Also, if some one is inquiring or planning a trip a year in advance, then ABB doesn't show listings of the hosts that choose a 6 or 9 month booking window.