The New Category Only Airbnb 2022

Kimberly718
Level 10
North Stonington, CT

The New Category Only Airbnb 2022

As a host, I am very concerned about the new Airbnb Category-only landing page. Are you?

I am shocked that Airbnb made such a dramatic shift away from the previous design of the site which used Ai to track and learn about traveler preferences and then serve up properties of interest. I can't understand why they couldn't introduce categories as a slider or ancillary search tool to showcase unique places and inspire travelers without losing the workhorse of this booking and marketing tool. 

I worked hard to obtain my 5-star rating; I had great conversion rates, visibility within the algorithm, and traveler saves.  I followed all of Airbnb's recommendations about how best to showcase my home, and how to be a great host. My summer bookings were going gangbusters until they came to a complete stop with the launch of this new design.

My luxury guest house which is located in the countryside on a historical farm, featuring a herd of longhorn cattle and horses, close to vineyards, beach, lakeside and golf courses is now relegated to one category (farm stay) where it is buried deep within a random collection of farm stays, several of which don't have farm animals at all. With no way to adjust the categories or add tags to inform the Ai, the power to market and gain visibility has been taken out of hosts' hands, and our business, marketing and success is precariously at the mercy of Ai (Artificial Intelligence). Airbnb seems to have put ego first with "design" category which features the most impossible to compete with stays in the most far-reaching corners of the world.  What is next? Will they adopt the Facebook business model of "You need us we don't need you" and "Do not contact us... ever" policy? I hope this is not the case, I truly love the platform which seemed like a Win-Win-Win for host-traveler-Airbnb. When the balance of those three things changes, many people lose. Airbnb if you're reading this, please don't let that happen. 

62 Replies 62
Shannon789
Level 2
Post Falls, ID

I was wondering why i have not gotten any bookings. I just did a search for rooms in Post falls and places came up that first that are not superhosts and i was shocked that places not even located in Post Falls came up before mine. My room is buried. Im very upset that even searching in my own city, my place came up AFTER rooms from surrounding cities. 

Hi @Shannon789 - I love that photo of the bath with the candles!  I was curious about your listing so I did an incognito search for Post Falls, 2 guests, any weekend in August, and I found you on the first page:  https://www.airbnb.com/s/Post-Falls--Idaho--United-States/homes?tab_id=home_tab&refinement_paths%5B%...

 

Everyone gets different results so I hope guests continue to find your lovely place.

Thank you for letting me know. I now can pull up the samething but yesterday and this morning i was pages back and a different photo came up. Now i feel like im losing my mind. 

Thank you so much. 

Euudoxia0
Level 2
Langley, Canada

I too am badly impacted by this change!  We are right on the beach, and our place doesn't show up in either beach or beachfront.   Even the name "Beach Oasis" has been removed in place of "Home".  Views are way off, bookings are zero.  I'm very upset at this change and have contacted the "superhost" line but no help there.  

I don't  understand how they could roll something like this out without proper testing.  It hurts our revenues, but it must also be hurting theirs!

I’m very concerned and confused about this new category thing

my rentals have dropped almost to Zero

I’ve complained to Airbnb and just junior people keeps answering and they don’t escalate the issue37149414-68EB-4FCB-9C66-C9C4F4552B25.jpeg

it’s a nightmare and bad for business 

 

 

Absolutely crazy.

 

Something as straightforward as putting, for example, a beachfront house, in the beachfront category,  is this complicated.

 

Cory centre apartments don't even have a category.

*city centre 

Sofía89
Level 1
Guadalajara, Mexico

We as well we are having difficulties to get guests to see our property

It only shows in "All homes" category but very very down, it doesn't show in any other category

We have several properties and only 2 are showing up 

 

Efi285
Level 2
Thessaloniki, Greece

Same issue, the listing disappeared can’t find it in any category and bookings stopped since the platform’s change. Any suggestions to solve it? 

It’s a nightmare 

Emilie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi everyone, 

 

Thank you again for your continued comments on the latest release features announced last month.

 

I just wanted to let you know we've recently shared some updates on actions we were taking in response to some key requests you've been discussing across the Community Center, which you might be interested to read more about:

 

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/a/host-questions-answered-airbnb-2022-summer-releas...

 

Thanks, 

 

Emilie

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Merci de jeter un oeil aux Principes du Community Center/ Please follow the Community Guidelines

@Emilie  Unfortunately what you have sent we all read it already and we’re complaining regarding that you are not taking action about it.

 

if you read all over the community forum, we complain about this is not working as you said,

 

you can see waterfront with pictures that are not shown as waterfront, beach places that are shown as tropical, places mountain that don’t shows views and the list never ends… more  and more people is writing and complaining 

 

just do us a favor, delete categories!!

 

simple and clean

Emilie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Mark-and-Gabriela0 My team and myself have been reading all your comments and working with the product team to make sure they see all your feedback. We will continue to explore updates and come back to you with more details over the coming months, in the meantime thank you for continuing to share your thoughts and suggestions here!

 

Thanks, 

 

Emilie

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Merci de jeter un oeil aux Principes du Community Center/ Please follow the Community Guidelines