Not getting any bookings ? Check the new search results on base price only :(

Pete28
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Not getting any bookings ? Check the new search results on base price only :(

If you are finding it slow I would suggest trying a search on the Airbnb website for your locale. 

 

- Airbnb now only searches on the base price per night, not including the cleaning fee

- if your base price is high and you don't charge or have low cleaning fee your listing will never be found since users will still search by lowest price

- when you try to find somewhere with a reasonable price you need to scroll through 100s of listing since you can no longer search by total price

 

This is an utterly broken user experience. A search at $70 night in Seattle for a weekend now returns 300+ homes almost all of which are >$100 when you include cleaning fee. How is this useful ? Confusingly the Airbnb app still works on total price inc cleaning fee.

 

To get bookings the obvious answer is to lower nightly rate so your listing will be found, add or increase cleaning fee and limit max number of nights the guests can stay so you don't loose money. Surreal.

 

Radically changing the price search method without telling anyone or providing a way to search on actual total price shows how random and immature Airbnb is. 

 

11 Replies 11
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Pete28

hm... but it was always this way

 

if you search without selected dates or number of guests then the base price will show.

When you select dates and number of guests then you will see the average nightly price (including cleaning fee) for this period.

 

for example:

my base price for up to 2 guests is 50 €

during weekend is 60€

additional guest is 10€

cleaning fee is 20€

 

So if you search without dates / number of guests you will see my price is 50€

If you select 2 days during weekend for 3 people then you will see the price is 80€ per night (60+10=70 x2=140 + 20= 160 : 2=80€)

or...

2 days during the week for 2 guests = 60€ per night (50x2+20=120:2=60€)

 

 

 

When I search my property without specific dates the nightly range on the main search page shows up at $239/night. My base rate is $175/night. I have no rates set at $239. Something is wrong and I am not looking to be competitive with other properties. Unless someone chooses to view my property and see the actual reduced nightly rate they will bypass me thinking that I am at $239/night. A call in to AirBnB yields no help at all so I don’t know what more to do. 

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

I agree with @Branka-and-Silvia0.  Search by price has not changed.

I think Airbnb are once again testing out 'new' features in certain markets.

 

For the last 2 years if I specified date and number of people I would get total price on the website inc cleaning fee etc.

 

From yesterday I only get base price no matter what I specify and then *next* to each listing I get the total price.

 

I certainly wish it was back to the way you say it is, because the current version I am seeing is useless. I have tried it using incognito in chrome, across 3 different PC, and also using a VPN which makes me appear to be located in EU. I get the same result each time.

 

The app continues to work as you suggest. When I get chance I will upload a screenshot..

image.png

 

Here here is what I get - note the search is fully specified to $73, the prices are all base price, the full total inc cleaning fee is shown next to each. All the total prices are higher than my search price.

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Pete28

I see, thanks for sharing... I still have it like it was before.

 

Here is what I see when I look at the first listing from your screen shot for the same dates and same number of guests like you did:

 

step2.png

 

 

and this is what I see if I click on the same listing 

- note that you have total of $85

- I have total of $75 with cleaning fee .... and $95 with cleaning fee + service fee + taxes

 

 

 

step2a.png

 

 

 

just for testing purposes, could you click on the questionmark (?) to see how they end up with total of $85 ?

The ? Icon shows the price breakdown of cleaning fee and Airbnb fee.  I have seen this being tested before, but always with the full total price used for search.

 

What is more ominous is how widely Airbnb has rolled out this broken feature. I've noticed in the last week (and it might just be me, since everyone has that feeling) bookings had completely stopped. For context I have not had an unbooked weekend for 2 years :).

 

If the new format is widespread it is an utter disaster for guests and hosts. It's impossible to find the actual price without scrolling through the 300+ results. If your base price is higher and don't have a cleaning fee your listing will never be found since this skews all the prices lower.

 

Once I dropped my base price and added a cleaning fee to game this I got a sudden rush of bookings. But it's utterly broken if it stays this way. I have tried Airbnb on Twitter and airbnbhelp but they claim not to know and just suggest providing feedback 😞

image.png

 

 

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Pete28, I see this new format too. They are also adding in the service fees (as well as cleaning costs) into the total price. 

Please email / tweet  Airbnb that it is idiotic and broken and is killing bookings via the web.

 

How can they just randomly do this ? they have made it impossible to search by price. It also seems to go against the recent EU ruling that they needed to be transparent on price - this is the opposite...

Thomas746
Level 4
Los Angeles, CA

Ok this is going to be a little long but I think those who read it will recognize the dilemma.  The above was in Nov of 18.   I'm writing this as of May 2019.  I've just come across this conversation after doing a number of searches from a position of someone coming to Airbnb for the first time who knows or doesn't know about Plus, Superhost etc.  So I would search no plus, no super host, basic amenities, thinking if someone is looking for something other than a hotel experience they would want a kitchen, wifi, TV, a/c, heating, a private bathroom, and a bedroom - this is a whole house I'm talking about - very very centrally located in LA - a total house for guests only.  I did this kind of search with and without dates.   I also did a deeper amenities search (Superhost, instant booking, price range, dates, almost all amenities - smoke detector, hair dryer etc).

I found my place (I am a Superhost with over a dozen reviews (all 5+),  came up only when I asked for specific days I had available - only those days.  Here's a second hit to that:  if I had a five-day block open and listed all five days in the search, I came up.  If I listed only three of those five days, I didn't.  I called Airbnb and got into a circle dance that of course lead nowhere.   I also changed the price up and down.  Down seems to have an effect but not as drastic as I was hoping - I'm talking going way down.  So I can't figure it out really.  And lastly, why is it I see other places popping up on page one, three, five and seven, when I don't show up on any of the 17 pages of 300 homes?   I see these folks are double listing their places with little tweaks here and there (price, length of stay etc) to make it seem like it's a different place.  (I can't imagine Airbnb can't figure out it is the same place and do something about it - in essence giving the same place a number of hits on a search).  One thing I think might be affecting getting on a search is the amount of positive reviews.  If you have a lot of great reviews it seems to help get you on the first page.  (if it's not a plus or superhost filtered search).  But not getting on at all unless you have a specific block of dates sandwiched between booked dates and it has to be all those days requested in the search to get your place a hit.  One day less, no hit.  Sorry to repeat but I see no rhyme or reason to the algorithm.  All comments, suggestions, and commiseration welcome.

Thomas