Multiple hotel rooms showing up in a search for 'private room in home' – can this be right?!

[Patricia55]

I'm sure this topic has been raised before but I can't find a thread... anyway, it's recently been brought home to me when I did my regular search (Homes → private room) in our area... all of a sudden there's about 20% more new listings, all of which look like rooms in the same hotel.

With so much emphasis on “finding the right fit,” and “customisation/optimisation” of searches, what on earth is the point of lumping in formulaic hotel rooms with individual, even unique, rooms in our homes?! Surely, if a potential guest is searching for a room in someone's home (with implied interaction with a host, not to mention lower price), they're NOT looking for a hotel room.

OK, so Airbnb wants to make more money, so they allow all different kinds of listings: fine, I suppose... but, if you're going to do that, at least keep the apples separate from the potatoes!

PS I'm not necessarily worried about increased competition, I'm just flummoxed... I mean, could this be a mistake in the software? @Lizzie , can you shed any light?

PPS On checking, I see that there IS a filter (see screenshot) – how come it's not working? I've contacted Airbnb Help on Twitter about it.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Patricia55,

I hope you are well.

Thanks for mentioning me here. I've just had a quick look in search on Airbnb, to try and replicate what you are referring to. Just to check I'm understanding you correctly, when you set the 'Private Room' filter, you are seeing listings categorised as 'Hotel Room' appearing in the search results? 

Thanks,
Lizzie

[Francesca-and-Dave0]

As you explore this issue, one concern to bear in mind is that I am hearing directly from hosts, and seeing some posts, about guests who are confused by the ABB search and booking system that mixes “private” HOTEL rooms with “private” rooms IN SOMEONE’S HOME.

Guests are showing up to private HOMES expecting them to be HOTELS and are confused and upset to find they are NOT getting a private HOTEL room, but a private room in a PRIVATE HOME. The guests  either cancel and create a hassle for themselves and for the host or the guests feel stuck and uncomfortable in a private home they weren’t expecting.

This makes a bad situation for both guests and hosts and seems like it would be solved if hotels and private homes were kept SEPARATE in the search.

[Patricia55]

Hi @Lizzie 

Thanks for replying.  Yes, you're understanding me correctly; the 'Private Room' filter doesn't filter out 'Hotel Room' listings (!?!)

In fact, I just got a reply from Airbnb on Twitter confirming that: "Users can filter just to see Hotel rooms but not filter out Hotel rooms at this time."

If you could explain the logic, bearing in mind the oft-mentioned "optimisation of search" that would be great!  (Sorry, I don't mean to put you on the spot, I'm just confused.)

Best, Pat

[Susan17]

@Patricia55 

Hi Pat. Below is a comment I posted on another thread a couple of weeks ago. 

I've been watching this rollout in different markets worldwide over the past few weeks and yes, there is a separate filter  for "Hotel Room". However, even when the browsing guest ticks the Private Room" option, "Private Room in Bed and Breakfast", "Private Room in Hostel', "Private Room in Serviced Apartment", "Private Room in Guest Suite", "Private Room in Lodge", "Private Room in Guesthouse", "Private Room in Aparthotel" and yes... "Room in Hotel" are all coming up in the Top 50 listings, in every "Private Room" search, in every city I've looked at.

To make matters worse, when you look very closely, you'll discover that many "professionals" appear to have turned bigger houses and apartment blocks into pseudo-hotels, and are listing in both  the "Hotel Rooms" category and the "Private Rooms" category (often under individual host profiles, as "Private Room in House" or "Private Room in Flat")

[Susan17]

@Patricia55 

Unfortunately, this development does seem to be skewing the Private Room searches completely. For example, the effects can be clearly seen in markets where it's already been introduced in recent months. 

Below are the results of a search of Zagreb, Private Room, 1 - 3 March, no other filters. 

TOP 50 LISTINGS - ZAGREB

• 31 of the Top 50 listings (62%) were from professional/commercial operators. (As were 7 of the Top 10, or 70%)

• 37 of the Top 50 (74%) were New Listings with 12 or fewer reviews. the majority with no reviews at all

•  14 Superhost listings (12 Superhosts) in the Top 50, but..

- Of those 14 listings, 2 SHs appeared twice, one a professional operator with two separate accounts, and one a regular host with only 10 reviews, and 2 listings in the Top 50. 

- 4 of the superhosts in top 50 had 12 reviews or less. One "SH" had just 8 reviews and rents his double room out for €12 a night. 

- So of the 12 Superhosts in the Top 50, only 8 (16%) had more than 20 reviews, and just 5 (10%) had 100+ reviews. 

• Prices ranged from €12 to €77 per night. 

- Interestingly, the lowest prices (apart from the €12 guy) were *all* from the Superhosts with long experience and the best reviews (€22 - €34)

- The professionals, in the main, appear to be pricing substantially higher ( €40 - €77)

The very first listing at the top was a commercial offering at €77. 

• One professional operator had 5 of her listings in the Top 50 (all priced at €55 to €75, but not a single review for any of them), another had 3 listings in the Top 50, and a further three hosts had 2 listings each. 

[Patricia55]

@Susan17 

Wow, that's some impressive research you've done there! Illuminating and depressing at the same time 😉 It's clear that small-time hosts are never going to be able to compete with the “professionals” (ha! I call them that but maybe they're just people who list a lot of rooms ;)) in the same arena, but, at least, give guests the ability to choose between the two! Or rather, when you give guests a filter to use, let the filter act as a filter! I have in mind a hypothetical guest, travelling alone, for work or study, who really doesn't want to stay in a hotel, who would feel much happier staying in a home with a host, use of kitchen etc); s/he now has to wade through a load of unsuitable listings! And why? Is it because the software writers don't know how to get a filter to work? Hmm, I don't think so...

[Patricia55]

@Susan17 

Forgot to ask if you could send me a link to the thread you mentioned, ta.

[Susan17]

@Patricia55 

I can't locate the thread that  I posted those particular comments in just now (I save anything I post that has any factual info separately for later reference), but I did have the entire thread below saved, which has similar content, and also contains the results of a search I did for Private Rooms in Montreal. It's also pretty depressing reading but I hope it's of some help to you anyway 🙂

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/Wow-Hundreds-of-new-ABBs-just-flooded-my-market/td-p...

[Patricia55]

@Susan17 

Thanks, it's definitely food for thought...

You mentioned:

"So of the 12 Superhosts in the Top 50, only 8 (16%) had more than 20 reviews, and just 5 (10%) had 100+ reviews."

It's always struck me as somewhat misleading for the multiple-listing owners to get Superhost status - maybe they got it for one listing initially? which then got "spread" over all of their listings...? I mean, I don't really understand how it's calculated but I would have thought that the status should be host/listing specific, ie one host/one listing.  Aside from that, I'm sure the owners are employing staff!

[Susan17]

@Patricia55 

Almost all the superhosts were regular hosts, very few of them were professionals. In general, the vast majority of professionals aren't superhpsts, nor could they care less about being superhosts, as it certainly doesn't stop them from appearing at the very top of searches. Most of the Pros listings that are flooding the searches have overall ratings of between 3.5 and 4.5 (max). 

The only reason I included the Superhost stats was to highlight the fact that there are so few long-term, highly rated hosts being featured at all, because Airbnb is choosing to promote professional operators with low numbers of reviews and/or low ratings - but lots of listings - at the top of the rankings instead.

As you have seen from the stats you mentioned, there were only 8 superhosts in that search with more than 20 reviews, and of those 8, only 5 (10%) were long-term superhosts with over 100 reviews. The point I was trying to make is that hosts are jumping through ridiculous hoops and putting up with all sorts of abusive, exploitative behaviour from their guests, because they're terrified of getting a bad review and obsessing about losing their superhost status, while at the very same time, the professional operstors with crap reviews and ratings are being promoted way above them in the search placement anyway.

The superhost thing is just a red herring really. The bottom line is, Airbnb is deliberately and knowingly flooding the platform with professional operators and commercial entities, and pushing the regular, long-term hosts they built their business,  brand image and fortunes on, out of the searches - and consequently, off the platform -  completely. The proof is all there, in any search, in any city (just more advanced in some cities than others, as yet, but its spreading like wildfire) We only need to open our eyes to see it. 

[Patricia55]

@Susan17 

Sure, I take your point - SH is no biggie to me anyway 😉

Well, my eyes are well-and-truly open, though I'm not sure where we traditional hosts go from here (apart from, in my case, accepting that hosting with Airbnb may be coming to the end of its lifespan.)

Cheers, Pat

[Gail33]

I am so happy to see hosts finally complaining about this.  My hosting with airbnb is coming to an end.  I used to have 3 top notch listings - excellent reviews, high ratings, all were invited to be part of the Plus program.  I now have 1.  

WHY?  I cannot compete with the professional, multi-listing folks who have moved into my downtown area.   FrontDesk has 34 properties in just a 2-mile radius of me.   Many of their listings have ratings below 4.8.  But all 34 have Superhost status.  As a PLUS listing, I rarely come up on page one for a search because so many of theirs come up first.  And brand new listings (which I never figured out).   It was the key reason I accepted the terms of PLUS - which meant I could NOT advertise on any other platform.  Thought I would get first page placement.  NOPE!   

I noted this issue in a Superhost workshop with airbnb Catherine Powell.  I told the group the Superhost badge was worthless.  We need a way for guests to EASILY search for what they really want.  I want a badge that promotes the airbnb mission - a local who offers a "stay like a local".    They responded that the professional, multi-listings hosts want a badge that recognizes the extra services they provide (e.g. 24-hour service).    So interesting that they think they offer more/extra services than me who personally cleans my units and checks-in every guest.  

[Brian---Karolina0]

I am just browsing through the Discussions to find answers to uor questions=understand the Airbnb listing system and I see it is not only US being upset! I would LOVE to become a Superhost, but if people do not see us when searching for an accommodation in our area, well.. 

So just wanted to say hello and I completelly agree with you! 

Greetings from France 🙂  Karolina

[Patricia55]

Greetings! @Brian---Karolina0 

If you fancy making your feelings felt, you could use: www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

... at least to say: make the filters work properly!  And also: Don't let Hotel Rooms be able to swamp us small, traditional hosts.  And also, they shouldn't be able to list their rooms as BOTH Hotel Rooms AND Private Rooms!!  (it has to be one or the other)