Listing not getting bookings

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

Hi there fellow hosts! I am seeking your help and input. My listing is not getting very many bookings and I don't know if it is just due to the competition in our area or if there is something(s) I can do to make my listing more appealing to prospective guests. If some of you with more experience than I have could take the time to look at my listing and give me advise/suggestions on ways I can make my listing more appealing it sure would be appreciated . Please also tell me what you do like about my listing (if anything). I am not very experienced at this and would really appreciate some feedback from more experienced hosts! I have already posted a question very similar to this one but only got one response. Would sure appreciate more than one opinion!

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

@Matthew285 Hi Mathew,  again thank you for taking the time to try to help me. Unfortunately I have previously read every single link you just sent to me have tried every suggestion in them. But from everything I have read I should be ranked higher than I am. With no new insights I can't fix what is not broken from my end. I am stuck in search ranking hell! This is definitely one of the reasons (maybe the biggest one) for my not getting very many bookings! Once people come and stay they love it as is evidenced in my reviews. My problem seems to be getting them here in the first place. Not a slow season around my area as many others around me are booked pretty solid. Whereas I have a 1 night booking for tonight and one two nighter mid February and that is the extent of my bookings. Last year at Christmas (2016) we were booked every single day but this year (2017) we were only booked for fifteen days and Christmas is our busiest month! 

[Mary-And-Kelly0]

I just want to say thank you to everyone who responded to my plea for help. You all gave me some ideas of which direction I wanted to go with my listing. The changes I have made have not moved me up any in search results however, I have gotten 3 bookings since I made the small changes. Yay me! So thank you to everyone that took the time to help me out it is very much appreciated! This is my first time using the community center but not the last I love that other hosts share their ideas and experiences what a great resource! Thank you to every one of you, Mary M

[Sarah977]

Thanks for that list @Matthew285.

I cannot find my listing at all, have 100% 5 star reviews and response rate (well, that's at 80% now because airbnb stopped sending me text notifications, so I didn't know I had a request and didn't get back to the guest until 26 hours after.  That guest did book, by the way. And airbnb totally ignored my request to put it back to 100% since it was their fault, not mine), have never cancelled a booking, and I refuse to consider instant book (it's a room in my home and I'm a single woman, so really want to vet the guests first).

I can't understand why airbnb sends me messages congratulating me re being Superhost, tells me I'm doing all the right things, then buries my listing. I don't see how anyone who doesn't use Instant book can ever come up in the search rankings- if no one sees the listing, it's pretty hard to get clicked on or receive inquiries or booking requests.

I went from having plenty of views, inquiries, and bookings to ZERO inquiries or requests, and not that many views, in the last month. In the middle of high season in an insanely busy tourist beach town.

Can you find my listing? Can anyone else?  (I have no idea how to find or post the URL link)

[Matthew285]

@Sarah977, I searched for homes in Sayulita; when the map is in the default location (where it puts the map when you type in "Sayulita"), your listing did not appear for me in the top 300.

Interestingly though, if I moved the map just a tiny bit south, your listing is right on the very first page at #2 or #3 (I did it twice, because I couldn't believe that you went from not even being on the list to being on the first page.)

Completely weird. Your listing rightfully ranks very high on the list, but I don't know why it doesn't come up unless I move the map south. I didn't even move it very far. (Meaning I thought your listing was on the map when it was in the original position.)

But maybe I am wrong about your listing being on the map at first. It doesn't make sense that you could drop from being #2 to being less than #300. Unless there are 500 great listings right on the coast, I don't know why that would happen.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

[Sarah977]

@Matthew285Thank you for looking. Oh, yes, there are many hundreds of listings in Sayulita. But not many in my price range (what airbnb calls similar listings are a joke) or advertising that it is quiet and peaceful.

I don't know anything about moving the map- would a guest know to do that? I don't think so. My place is not right on the beach. It is an 8 minute drive to the beach, and I list it as such. It is still in Sayulita. And places right on the beach are hugely expensive.

All my guests have loved being out here in the quiet countryside, as you can see from the reviews. It is incredibly noisy and congested in town.

So do you think airbnb changed the map recently, as I'm not even getting inquiries? And I got plenty of inquiries and bookings until a month ago? Think I should call them?

[Matthew285]

@Sarah977 I think it would be a terrific idea to at least ask AirBnB if they can shed some light on the situation.

The search ranking algorithm clearly loves your listing. I have never seen someone consistently rank so high as I moved the map around.

That's why it is such a mystery that you don't appear on the initial map location for Sayulita.

Maybe they moved what part of town is included when guests start searching?

Honestly, it looks like your location is on the map when I start out.