One Trip - Two Stays

Wendy117
Level 10
Bexley, Australia

One Trip - Two Stays

One Trip - Two stays showing after the usual search.  This new feature of Airbnb gives searchers the ability to be able to book any trip over 7 days over 2 properties in one booking.  It ignores the price range requested in the search filter and just combines with listings that are in the same area.  At least it shows the total price so they can see it is out of their range. Cant imagine someone wanting to pack up and move after 4 days to another similar place just down the road for 3 days.   I regularly do searches for my own properties to compare rates and found this feature very puzzling.

6 Replies 6
Ann72
Level 10
New York, NY

I agree @Wendy117 that the split stays showing two places nearby don't make a lot of sense.  Did not realize they were ignoring the price filters, which is the real head-scratcher.  I do have guests who are traveling along the coast of Maine and staying in places that are an hour or two apart, but nothing like that shows up in split stays when searching my region.

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Wendy117,

 

That's interesting, because when I was playing with the new search functionality, all of the averaged prices of the split stay recommendations were within the price range that I'd selected. 

 

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There would be recommendations above my normal price range when I didn't use the price range filter to set my low and high limits.

 

Debra300_1-1653402714924.png

 

Wendy117
Level 10
Bexley, Australia

@Debra300 @Ann72   

On reading  Airbnb's blurb on Split Stays, it is meant to give hosts more options for renting when their listing is only available for part of the search dates.  I guess I just found it disturbing that my places would be available for the whole period selected so there was no need to offer the split stays but I supposed it was offering options to the other properties who may not be available for the full period. Then I looked at the recommended split and the properties I looked at were also available for the full period.  There were 7 properties shown in the search then 17 split options.   Its not just that guests then need to pay two cleaning fees - all the split total prices were higher than the selected range.  It will be interesting to ask my future guests if any of them were interested in that option.  As @Ann72  said, it would seem to be more useful to guests if the splits offered were a bit further apart .

Debra300
Level 10
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia

@Wendy117,

 

Yeah, I already have a couple of posts the the community moderators telling them of the split-stay shortcomings that I found.  One of the primary features is supposed to be suggesting two locations so the guest can experience different parts of a city, country or community.  I observed that some suggestions were less than a mile apart, and the pairs may belong to the same host.  I also noted that there were fewer listings under the All Homes category than there were under the Tropical category.  Shouldn't it be the reverse or the numbers match?

 

Oh well, I've been spending the past few days reactivation my Expedia and Vrbo listings, and updating my own site and Booking listings.  I think it's time for me to work on my guesthouses Facebook page, also.  Airbnb will not be rolling back the changes, and fixes will take some time to deploy, because this time they will really test them before going into production. 

Frank1819
Level 1
Seattle, WA

Hello Wendy117,

 

I am a guest (since 2012), not a host.   You are quite correct in pointing out that we guests are not at all inclined to move every few days during vacation or work.  I also have been annoyed for some time by Airbnb's "two stays" feature. 

 

 In hopes of prompting reconsideration of a flawed feature, from a guest's perspective, here is my recent feedback to Airbnb:

 

"Is there a way to turn off "two stays" map results? For those of us uninterested in moving during our stay, those listings needlessly clutter what should be a lean, targeted map suited to our needs.

 

Even better, the map default should be with "two stays" turned off, with a readily visible button to switch it on for those who are interested.

 

To state it in good faith but also candidly: the "two stays" feature is (very) annoying.

As an Airbnb member of long standing, I request that you consider -- favorably, please -- this constructive suggestion.

Thank you."

 

As a host Wendy, you perhaps have a bit more leverage with Airbnb then do guests.  I support and encourage you and the others in this forum to press Airbnb to rethink its "split stay" presentation, which might be attractive to some guests but not to the many, of which I am one.

 

One solution might be for the "split stay" option to be turned off by default but with a button (or a prominent banner) allowing it to be turned on by the interested guest.

 

I do not have high hopes that Airbnb will pay attention to this issue, annoying as it is, since a policy decision has been made at high level.  Still, I offer my support should you be able to make any progress with Airbnb.

 

Kind regards

 

 

@Frank1819 I suspect Airbnb will quietly drop the split stay concept as it seems to get no support from guests or hosts.

To my mind it only makes sense if a guest is searching for a very popular destination and it is used to find them somewhere to stay. Sadly Airbnb doesn't seem to use it like this!