Original suburb listing has changed

[Anonymous]

Have been operating very successfully for over a year but suddenly no bookings. Upon searching in MUDGEE in Australia, we no longer appear but show in HOME RULE instead. Nobody, absolutely nobody looking for accommodation in the area would type in Home Rule. For that matter, nobody would have even heard of Home Rule in this very rural area. If we cannot have our listing appear in MUDGEE search then we can close our doors. Any suggestions please?

[Karen-and-Brian0]

Hi @Anonymous When you look under the Location tab, where is your listing showing on the map? Did the red arrow somehow get dragged over closer to Home Rule? If it's on the right spot on the map, sounds like you'll need to contact Airbnb to get that sorted.

Your place is lovely! I'm really curious about the big rocks beside the cottage, were they naturally occuring or did someone place them there? (although I can't imagine how!) - Karen

[Anonymous]

Hi Karen

Thank you so much for responding to my post.  The listing location on the map is where it's always been and is correct but I just couldn't understand why we don't have any future bookings so thought I'd have a look at our listing so did what I always do and searched under MUDGEE and nothing came up.  My son found it under HOME RULE!!!!!   My guess is that Airbnb has changed something at their end and decided that we are far enough from Mudgee to not come under that area but it will definitely put us out of business and already I have no idea what we've missed out on.  We were always on the first page when searching.  I have sent an email to Airbnb in Australia but being Saturday here, I guess I will have to wait until Monday for a response. We will be absolutely devastated if they don't change it back to Mudgee.

Thank you for the comment about the place being lovely; we've spent a lot of money on it and a lot of effort ion doing things right.  The boulders are granite and are a feature of the property.  They are scattered all over the place and a great point of interest to guests.

Thank you again Karen for your help.

Cheers

Sue

[Karen-and-Brian0]

@Anonymous They definitely are extremely fasinating to look at! What a great feature! When I do a search for Mudgee, NSW, I can see your listing if I zoom out 1 click on the map - you are way up very close to Home Rule. Is that where you are? Sounds like you're not - so maybe move the red arrow closer to Mudgee, would that work? 

[Anonymous]

Hi Karen and Brian

Firstly, I never moved the location to where it is. It has just suddenly relocated. You are right that it's now incorrect however when I move it, it moves back again when I look again.

I've had an email from Airbnb which tells me that when he puts Mudgee in, we come up. He even sent me a screen shot. I've had a couple of friends try the same thing and it doesn't come up. I had a similar problem when I signed up with Booking.com and the lady told me it had something to do with Google maps and whether we used American English or English English. Now I know that sounds ridiculous but she fixed it very promptly. All I know is for the first year of business all went fine.

I've sent another email to Airbnb and will keep you posted of outcome.

Cheers
Sue

[Anonymous]

The issue has not been resolved and has been sent to someone else at Airbnb to sort out. The last email I received was 5 days ago , assuring me that the problem is being dealt with however I have not been sent any contact details of the person handling the problem nor do I have any idea of what's going on. In the meantime we cannot receive bookings. Very disappointing. 

[Lynn5]

1. This is interesting because this forum is supposed to assist hosts,  but when the problem goes beyond the ability of the hosts working together to handle,  Airbnb fails to support it's own platform responsibilities.

Lynn   [phone number removed]

[Anonymous]

Hi Lynn

18 emails plus a few phone calls have gone back and forth to Airbnb but the problem has not been resolved.  I was contacted by an Airbnb representative initially and went through the process of dragging the balloon to the correct location on the map but when I went back in half an hour later it was back in the wrong place.  In the end, the person there changed it manually for me so that at least my location on the map is correct but we are still listed under HOME RULE rather than MUDGEE. I was told that seeing as a lot of new B and B's have now opened in the centre of MUDGEE, we can no longer be displayed there and have to use the actual town where we live which by the way is actually ST FILLANS, not HOME RULE.  I was also told that I need not worry as prospective guests looking for accommodation in the area would zoom out on the map to see what was available further away from town but this just isn't the case.  It's not happening and we aren't getting any bookings through Airbnb.  We've now listed with another site and had a few bookings through them this year but I loved Airbnb and don't understand how our listing address can just be changed like that.  No doubt we aren't the only ones who have experienced this.  The other site we listed with was able to list us in MUDGEE from the beginning, no problem.  We are extremely disappointed to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Ha! I just had a look and we are once again listed if you search for MUDGEE.  We are also listed under HOME RULE.  We were not advised that it had been changed.  I will monitor it closely each day to see if it stays.  I must say that we were on the first page all the time before and wondering what impacts your place on the pages.  Perhaps nothaving any bookings?