Keyword Search

[Ed-and-Hugh0]

I would love to see the Keyword Search feature brought back. I've spoken with many other hosts who would like to see this turned back on as well.

This was a great way for guests and hosts to find a good match and there are too many special interests to provide check-boxes for. Some guests, for example, prefer to stay in a kosher or vegan household. Others might want to stay with SCUBA divers or surfers.

Keyword search was a great way to make these connections happen. It was good for guests and for hosts! Many of us saw a large drop in page views when this feature was turned off, and the views have never returned to their prior levels. It seems that there are a lot of missed connections, with guest who are having trouble finding just what they're looking for.

[Peter0]

It would also be very interesting as a way of breaking the ice with new guests. 

[Helga0]

I'd prefer a keyword search, it's the feature I sesrch for on most websites. 

The list of amenities to filter is just ridiculous. Who will filter by clothes hangers? 

Who would want to have a guest who filtered by all detectors and fire-extinctors? I have them, but using those as filters, means a seriously neurotic guest. 

A jacuzzi or a chimney in a densely populated city are as probable as a pink dog. (Or less so, I saw a pink dog on my street a few years ago)

if the publicity is based on unique experience, by logic deduction a given list of filters can never guaratee to find that. 

[Deborah0]

Thanks for bringing this up, Ed and Hugh -- I also have heard so many comments from hosts about the value of having the keyword search on the Airbnb site.  Guests could search not only for common interests with hosts, but also for unique features of listings, which do not appear in amenities filters -- such as, a place that is near a park or open space,   a listing well located for doing bird watching, or one near bicycle/pedestrian paths or very close to public transportation.  

[Sandra126]

Thank you @Ed-and-Hugh0. When planning a trip to Argentina I only want to stay with people who like tango (true, takes a lot of reading listings to find).  Keywords are brilliant.

[Bridget0]

Exactly! And keyword search supports the single fundamental Unique Selling Proposition tat airbnb has over hotels - it offers Unique Experiences!

I have a Tiny House - so many people used to come soley because they wanted to research what it felt like before building or buying their own. They came not because they were excited to be in Redmond, WA (wonderful though it is), they came because of the unque listing.

In fact, airbnb has long had a list hidden at the bottom of it's home page of curated listings - Tiny Houses, treehouses, etc. They kept this long after the ability to search for them was removed (and they never removed dead listing from those lists.

Hotels cannot provide places that are kosher, that have parrots, that are in trees! Bringing back search terms for guests supports the essence of airbnb, find a way to bring that back!

Sorting by clothes hangers, absurd!

Bridget

[Helen56]

Being able to search by host's interests/hobbies would be great.  I love to dance and would love it if dancers sought out my place because they wanted to come to dance events with me - but we would have to include type of dance.  I enjoy ballroom, swing, vintage, tango - these are so different to disco, folk, salsa or kizoumba!  For example a contra dancer would likely not enjoy a ballroom dance event - but I might take her to a contra dance as I used to go regularly, but you will never get me to go to a disco!

Yes, please bring back key word searches, and list host's interests.

[Raymond-and-Elaine0]

As a host I can now tick off that the guest's bathroom is private, yet as a guest looking for somewhere to stay, I could only see the number of bathrooms and needed to go into the listing and read if the bathroom was shared or private.

[Louise0]

It's interesting that you've brought this up.  I had a guest recently who bemoaned the lack of keyword search.  She was very keen to find a place close to the Sydney CBD but also in a very 'green' environment.  A keyword search on 'trees', 'rainforest', 'park' etc would have saved her having to trawl through dozens of listings to find mine.  She said she nearly gave up as her only search tool was viewing listing photos and many of these turned out to be location shots rather than actual areas immediately adjacent, part of or even viewable from the listing.

[Katy15]

Thumbs up for this comment! Thank you

I'm a vegan biker, whom loves the outdoors and cats!.  However, I seem to get the same type of guests through the door.  Guests whose primary interests are going into Edinburgh to seek out all the tourist attractions.  This is great and creates business for me but it would be nice to have a little variety, expecially when the real beauty is up in the Highlands.  I'm also finding breakfast options very dificult to gauge.  I request guests send me any dietry requirements, prior to their arrival to reduce unnecessary waste.  To find on check out they've not touched the organic free range eggs, or not touched the locally made bread and only had a drop of milk.  While I don't want to impose my own dietary ethics on my guests, it frustrates me that guests don't make the effort to reply properly, so I can run my Airbnb as ethically and sustainably as possible.   

Oh and I've clearly explained I have cats, yet nearly every guest will attempt to circumnavigate their friendly welcome.

I feel the keyword search would resolve a lot of these issues.

[Pia8]

I would like to see key words as well. When we're looking for accommodation, we often want to stay beachfront. Now that we have a beachfront holiday home for rent on Airbnb we would like our guests to be able to search "beachfront" and find our place more easily.