Guidebook has disappeared

[Malcolm3]

I have three properties and had quite a lot of information in the guidebook for each property. Now when I go to Manage Listing/ Guidebook nothing appears except the menu items at the top and left hand side. I do not see my guidebook nor do I see any options for adding items to the guidebook. This is the same for all three properties. I have not changed my browser - Chrome.

[Clare0]

@Malcolm3 Hmm. That's strange.  I thought my Guidebook wasn't appearing too until I zoomed out an then saw all the pin indicators.  See if that works!

[Dede0]

First, viewing your listing as a guest, your current guidebook is totally visible, so that's at least not broken.

From the host's perspective, AirBnB has definitely changed the behavior just today. My input interface looks a lot different, although i think it still works mostly the same. They've fiddled the layout and they've altered the set of categories that you could slot things into. (And, I have to say, the choices are now poorer than before. For example, they've lumped Cafes and Coffee Shops together, eliminated Shops, eliminated Bars and Clubs, eliminated Groceries, eliminated museums or such, have both Dessert Shops AND Bakeries [redundant?] and added the amorphous "Everything Else" and the nearly useless Street Markets.) It also looks like I'll have to go back in and recategorize everything whose category was eliminated. All in all, these changes seem to add little other than some confusion factor. Why they do this crap is beyond me.

Actually, it's even more confusing than this. As I play around with it more, there appears to be a layered hierarchy of categories. Most of the stuff i said above applies to the higher category of "Food Scene". Other stuff seems to be in other parent categories, such as "Drinks and Nightlife".

So they've actually greatly expanded the labels you can slap on things. In the end, this is probably a good thing, but it sure as heck is confusing at first!

Also, I no longer see an option to produce a printed copy, which I find far more usefukl for guests than the online version (which NO ONE has ever used as far as I know).

[Malcolm3]

As suggested by @Clare0, I tried zooming in and out, but still can't see anything when I try to edit my guidebook.

By coincidence today I received two automatic emails from Airbnb (community@airbnb.com) entitled:  It's time to revisit your guidebook. When I clicked on the link in the email I enountered Error 404 page not found.

[Joanna7]

I have the same problem. I no longer see my Guidebook. It has completely disappeared!

I tried the zooming out thing and it didnt' work. Help!

[Clare0]

@Joanna7 and @Malcolm3 My guidebook is there and I am using a laptop with Google Chrome.  What are you guys using?  If you are using an app, try clearing your cache and / or refresing the page.  Apps are notoriously glitchy and you have to play around with them. I've also seen Airbnb recommend uninstalling and re-installing the app.  Argh!

[Ed-and-Hugh0]

My Guidebook is also missing in the maintenance page. I understand that a new version of the guidebook is being rolled out, so I'm assuming my account is in transition of some sort. Hopefully it will reappear soon. In the meantime, I see that the items in the guidebook are still showing on the map.

[Malcolm3]

So @Ed-and-Hugh0 and @Joanna7 have seen the same problem, but it was OK for @Clare0.

I made contact with Airbnb through the UK Superhost phone number and the helpful guy there confirmed there was a problem. This has now been fixed, though it took about a day. I don't know whether this fix was just for me or for everyone, hopefully the latter.

As various people have reported, the functionality has changed, not necessarily for the better - one cannot print it and it seems that guests can only access the information by clicking on the map. Such is life it seems.

[Dede0]

After I noticed that my Guidebook interface had changed *and* that could no longer generate a printed copy, I got in touch with Support. Here's what they emailed me the next day:

"At this time, we do not have a way to create a printable version of the guidebook. However, this feedback has been passed along to the team who is working to improve the site and I assure you that they will take it under advisement.

I know that this isn't what you were hoping for, and I'm sorry that I don't have a more definitive answer for you. We are always working to improve our site and better help our hosts and our guests, and I'm confident that we will find a way to provide that option to our users."

So, fellow hosts, if you've been thinking about printing your Guidebook but have been procrastinating, I suggest you jump on it IF you still have the old interface. How can you tell? Well, in the old interface, there was only one level of classification for businesses. That is, they were either a Restaurant, a Shop, a Bar, and so on. In the new interface, classification goes two levels deep. For example, a top-level classification might be "Food Scene" under which you'll find a set of secondary classifications such as Restaurant, Market, Food Truck, etc. Also, of course, you can also tell by the simple presence or absence of a link saying something to the effect of "Create a printable copy" (something like that; I can no longer see that, so I'm going on memory).

[Clare0]

@Dede0 Good job!

[Dede0]

As it turns out, it appears that generating a printable copy is currently impossible for everyone, whether they have the old or new interface. Based on my own communication with AirBnB and my theory about a change to the database schema, I wouldn't expect a quick fix to the print problem. Once again, I have to say that AirBnB's coders appear to be (mostly) the cheapest of the cheap. Hey there, AirBnB, ever heard of "you get what you pay for"?

[Dede0]

The ability to generate a printable copy of the Guidebook is back. At least for hosts who are seeing the new input interface; I don't know about people (if any) who are still seeing the old interface.

(FYI, @Malcolm3, @Clare0, @Ed-and-Hugh0, @Joanna7)

[Clare0]

@Dede0 thank you! Appreciate your including us!

[Donna36]

My Guidebook is also missing.  When I click the link, it leads to a link to the Denver guidebook.  Maybe AirBnB is outsourcing website development?  2 weeks is a long time to leave pages broken.

[Ana7]

My guidebook also disappeared!Moreover, I can't find my country, let alone my city of Zagreb on the map 😕

Thank God I printed it out when I made it, I'm just gonna copy it now!