The Get Directions link in the booking confirmation

[Peter988]

After several years of very good airb&b experiences I have just had a bad one, involving a host configuring a location which was several miles away from the real one.

How does this get configured?

Normally airb&b shows only an approximate location, but after you have confirmed the booking you should get an accurate one. After all, you will find out when you get there!

The Get Directions link shows actual google maps coordinates, which creates the impression of it being accurate, but I wonder if hosts still configure it inaccurately? The one I had was a few miles away, showing the town centre, when the actual location was in the middle of nowhere up in the hills. As a result of this we didn't stay there, but I got a nasty review from the host. I did get a refund though, partly from the host and partly from airb&b.

[Linda108]

This problem was not due to the host.  Air BNB system has sometimes inaccurately located the listing address on the map.  I am glad you got the refund.  As to your review, you can respond to it and just state that the cancellation was due to a system error that inaccuratedly located the listing.

[Peter988]

So the coordinates in the Get Directions URL are auto generated by airb&b, from the postal address?

This is the example I had:

Get directions
https://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=36.761028,22.563999

That points into the middle of the town, but the property was several miles away. The postal address provided by the host (well, the one I could see) listed just the name of the town (the district).

Whereas your average customer will load 36.761028,22.563999 into their satnav and.... 🙂

More importantly, the customer is likely to use the "Get directions" link to verify that they got the right place, so if the description is slightly vague ("5 minutes to the beach" instead of the more correct "5 minutes drive to the beach",  in my case) it would look good. Please bear in mind that airb&b listings show only vague locations and this remains so (in most cases) even after the booking has been confirmed.