Guide Book

[Edward-and-Sao0]

This topic has been raised before but always seems to die out without being properly answered or resolved.

The problem (for us) is as follows -

With listing in edit mode, the creation of the guide book works ok. It can also be updated and edited ok. But with the listing in preview mode, and/or when using search to find our listing, the guide book is not posted. It is not visible to the guest before or after they make a reservation or after they check in.

I have reported the problem to AB, and after mutliple hand-offs to "experts" they finally admitted it was a bug and it would be submitted for correction. However no timeframe was given or estimated and we have heard nothing since after several months. (As a side note reported problems should be given a ticket number so that on future contacts the problem details can be accessed by the support rep, and not started from scratch again. Basic!!)

I check frequently but nothing has changed and the problem still exists. Other hosts have offered the theory that it might be because we are in Asia (Thailand ) and the feature is not available here. but I would like a definitive answer on this and of course a correction that allows this very useful feature. Without it we have to seperately create something similar and provide it for guests when they check-in, but if it is on the listing it would certainly help to attract potential guests who are browsing.

Any feedback, comments or solutions welcomed!

Edward

Koh Samui , Thailand

[François105]

I have the same problem here in Canada (Montreal Québec).  I will let you know if I'm able the de-bug this problem.

[Ann72]

@Edward-and-Sao0, this is maddening!  I've spent a lot of time on my guidebooks, and since they used to be available to each guest upon booking, it took me a while to realize they no longer were.  However, I routinely send each guest a PDF of my guidebook before their arrival.  (You probably know how to do this, but just in case:  choose "print guidebook" and then "save as PDF.")

There are sites and apps that allow you to create guidebooks that you can share with a link.  Coral is one.  But repeating all the work when the guidebook is right there on my listing (although impossible for guests to find!) is so inefficient.  So, again, I just send everyone the guidebook ahead of time.  This does require asking each guest for a non-Airbnb email address, but c'est la vie.  And of course I leave a printed version at each house.

[Edward-and-Sao0]

@Ann72 - thanks for joining the conversation, and for your suggestions. 

I too use "off listing" methods of providing a type of guide book for our guests, but i am intrigued as to how you are able to get non-Airbnb email addresses prior to a confirmed reservation. I know it can be done by using "code" for an email adddress or website address to avoid blocking but surely we should not be forced to do this!

If the guide book feature worked as advertised it would be fine, and it could be improved by allowing it to be seen on the listing prior to a confirmed reservation. Why not ?  What is there that AB wish to hide from potential guests? Don't understand!

It is my belief that this would allow potentital guests to understand more about the local neighbourhood esp in terms of shops and restaurants that they could walk to, and help to generate more bookings. Everyone including AB will benefit!

Hopefully more hosts will join this thread, give their views and possibly their support. If enough of us want this functionality activated (or re-activated) perhaps AB will listen and respond. 

[Ann72]

@Edward-and-Sao0, I only send it to guests who've confirmed.  I message them and ask them to send me a non-Airbnb email address so I can share the guidebook with them, and they message back with the email address, no coding or special trickery needed.  It started working (getting an email address without having it blocked) about a year ago.

[Alexandra--Alex-0]

Ann, how are you getting to the "print guidebook" page?  The current issue I'm having is that every update I've made to my guidebook since November 2018 has not carried over to the printable version that I access by going to "airbnb.com/rooms/[mylistingnumber]/guidebook".  I've been trying to work directly with AirBnB's ironically named "help" desk and have no answers on why this is happening. 

[Ann72]

Unfortunately I can no longer find the guidebook that I could save as a PDF and print.  I now only find my digital guidebook, which I can edit, and which can now be printed.  BUT:  when printed, it includes the name and address of an entry, but not the phone number or website.  What use is this?  I spent some time yesterday trying to figure out how I could print a PDF that I could edit but I gave up.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

[Edward-and-Sao0]

No suggestions I'm afraid - but just confirmation that the new guidebook implementation is not well thought out does not do what we and our guests need from such a tool.

There seem to be some updates to it from time to time (which as usual we have to find out about for ourselves by experimentation rather than being advised by AB) so its probably worth posting here as they surely read these threads to assess the user reactions.

The central problem seems to me to be paranoia about letting "rogue" website addresses get posted on the system which could allow bad actors to use the platform for their devious purposes.

None of us as genuine hosts, or our genuine guests, want that of course, but in fact its pretty easy to by-pass the blocks  without these guidebook restrictions anyway, so why cripple this useful and important feature when it doesn't solve the problem?

We need to be able to post web site addresses and information on the guidebook directly, not just those authorized by AB. And to your point we need to be able to create a full unrestricted printed version for those of our guests who will find it hard or impossible to follow on a phone screen. Also in our part of the world (Thailand) there are many great local places that have no website or online visibility, and with the current Guidebook system it is impossible for us to list and promote them. So we have to create our own additional recomendation list anyway. 

A fully implemented local guidebook on the AB site, that can be viewed online and/or printed, would be a great selling tool that can help hosts to gain more bookings, and help guests to make better decisions before confirming a reservation as well as helping them to better enjoy their stay.

What say AB??

Edward

[Mark1381]

hi all, 

I just spent a couple of hours on this, and....it turns out that 

a) yes, there is no obvious way to show a guest how to view or find it unless you know the URL. 
b) the URL is https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/xxxxxxxx/guidebook

where xxxxxxxx is your listing number. 
so I just successfully copied and pasted this link in an Airbnb message to my guest and it seemed to work. 
it still sucks that you have no control over the order in which your recommendations are listed, but at least all the work you put into making it in the first place isn't totally gone. 

Uh, needless to say, Airbnb......would be great if this worked normally. 

thx
Mark

[Edward-and-Sao0]

Great work Mark - thanks much. will try it today.

Its a useful workaround but as you say we must hope and expect that AB will see this and properly reinstate the feature for us. Looks like it would be a simple patch for them based on your analysis.

Thank you

Edward

[Jonathan6]

Good work around for displaying the guidebook, but I can't edit mine.  I can delete and entry but can't add or modify.  I also have been chasing ABB for months on this with no good answer.  The answer today was that they rolled out a new Guidebook on 2/6, but this looks like it is for the "City Guidebook" and only that it pulls information from your listing guidebook.

This is the ABB answer I got today after they said they had no more information from the product team:

Airbnb Support

2:33 PM

Host Guidebooks allow you to share local recommendations with guests. In certain locations, Airbnb takes those recommendations and creates a City Guidebook that travelers can use to learn about places and activities that are popular with local hosts.

If your city has a Guidebook, we’ll use hosts’ recommendations to help build it. This means that the local spots and activities you suggest on your listing’s page could also appear in the City Guidebook. If you would prefer not to be featured in the City Guidebook, you will need to remove recommendations from your personal Host Guidebook.

The more robust your guidebook is, the more likely your recommendations are to be featured on the City Guidebook page. 

To get started with building your Host Guidebook, visit our Help Center article: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/question/249

Of course the article is useless since they seem to feel that you can edit your guidebook.

[Edward-and-Sao0]

Thanks for this additional info on the subject.

Not sure about the problem you are having with editing the guide book...  that part seems to work ok for me. Might be the browser you are using? Sometimes different browsers can cuase this type of prob. Just fyi I use Safari on a Mac.

The AB response is interesting and may help to explain why being in Thailand is indeed the problem. There are no city guide books for anywhere in Asia as far as I can see, so maybe they also do not implement the host guide book feature for us (and a thousands of others!). Of course they could turn on the host guide book without having city guide books - and why not?

Re workarounds - following on from Mark's analysis earlier in this thread - if you are in edit mode you can see there is a "print guide book" option. Select that and it takes you to your guidebook page https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/xxxxxxxx/guidebook . Then you can not only print it but also save it for later use eg as a PDF file which is good for sending by email or posting somehwere else. Useful.

But overall we still need a definitive (and correct) statement from AB about the host guide book feature implementation, including any geographical restrictions and reasons for the restrictions. Just that could have saved many wasted hours for a lot of hosts trying to figure it out, and not hard for them to do right?

[Edward-and-Sao0]

Guidebook update. This morning as usual I checked to see if there were any changes in the host guidebook situation - and indeed there are. When in listing edit mode scroll down to Guidebook and select edit. Then , if the feature has been updated for you in your area, you will see the new implementation. If its available for us in Thailand i would bet its available anywhere now!

This is a complete rework of it, and does not retain what you may have previously entered so there is a lot of cut & paste to be done. But thats ok, the result seems to be a much improved layout and most importantly what you enter here DOES appear on your listing. Wow!

Have not finished transfering and editing all my entries and there are some features to be explored eg the relationship with a non-host local guidebook that is referenced, but will get to that and report anything of interest. Overall we are pleased that we finally have something we have waited so long for.

On-going gripe - why don't AB issue some release notes about new or updated features so that we don't all have to discover them for ourselves? Every other software company that I deal with does that as standard practice of their customer service and we should expect it from AB who are a major global application software development organisation. 

Edward

[Jonathan6]

Thanks for watching this, yes much improved, but clearly still a work in progress and I agree, would never had found this fix if we hadn't been watching it on the CC.

I note the following issues:

1. It does not like if it can't search for your result (i.e. no way to make a manual entry).  I want to put in a web site for the bus service and I can't enter a URL or even a title "The Bus", it only wants to allow entries it can find in it's internal search.

2. Upload or change a picture, although it found a location (gas station), it does not have an image for it and I can't upload one.

3. Deleting a section-They could improve on this, trial and error I removed a section by deleting each entry then clearing the title and it deleted it, a simple X or Trash can would be easier.

Other than that, looks great, presents a clear page with map and large image to the guest, let's see if they can find it now and ask less questions.

[Edward-and-Sao0]

Agree your points.

1. Manual entries would be a good enhancement. For now I am putting those types in the Neighbourhood description section as text. 

2. Have same problem with no picture (or irrelevant picture) in some cases, but can't find a workaround.

3. Editing needs enhancement. Hope that will be improved as more hosts use and give feedback, but not holding my breath based on history of this feature

4. Have added a ref to the guidebook in the listing description which might encourage more people to take a look. Also will message a link to it for all booked guests.