Frustration with search only allowing guests to choose weekend, week, or month. Single nights, weekdays are not getting booked much anymore.

[Trinette---Chris0]

Has anyone else noticed that they are not filling up weekdays or single nights anymore? I have had a number of guests tell me they thought I was all booked up this summer and spring because they could not find my listing in the "flexible" search anymore because Airbnb forces the guest to choose weekend, week, or month only and there is NO option for the guest to choose weekdays or a 1, 2, 3, or 4 night stay during the week in the search. Ironically this is called flexible? How is this search flexible if you can't search for weekdays or less than a week? How can this be? I read online that Airbnb is doing this to upsell guests to stay longer, but this is really wrecking havoc for me as a host and it is really impacting my income. I used to be able to easily fill one night stays and weekdays and last minute cancellations but this is not happening anymore and these dates are just staying empty. 

Airbnb please please add weekdays, or 1, 2, 3, 4 night stays onto the search so guests can find my place and I can fill all these open dates in my calendar! Also it shows guests a much higher price for my listing than is accurate as it shows the first dates where a whole week is available which is a much higher price than dates I have available tomorrow and this week. I currently have days available for $225 a night this week, but it shows my listing as $425 a night as it only shows the first whole week available which is months from now and no single nights or weekdays. This is so frustrating. Please change this and let guests search for weekdays and shorter stays during the week. I saw that @John5097  also did a post on this last year. @Airbnb 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Trinette---Chris0 if guests put in the dates they want to stay along with a location then the system will happily show places available for 1, 2, 3 or any number of nights. Am I missing something?

[Trinette---Chris0]

Yes. Yes, you are correct if they put in exact dates shorter stays will come up, but if a guest is looking for ANY dates, if they are open to dates, like say I want to travel somewhere in May but do not have exact dates in mind, I just want to see what is available, in other words my dates are flexible, the Airbnb search ONLY allows guests to search by weekend, weekday, or month in the “flexible” search, it will not allow them to see 1,2,3, or 4 night stays UNLESS they put in exact dates. But if they are looking for a weekend or full week it will show them places without exact dates. Try it for yourself and see what I mean. Pretend you just want to see any dates that are currently open for the month of May for a weekday stay but you just want to do a two night stay during the weekday (not a weekend, or week or month), it’s simply not possible to do. They are doing this because they are trying to force guests to book longer stays, but it is hurting hosts big time for weekday stays and shorter stays as guests only see these dates if they put in the EXACT date. It did not used to be this way. When I travel, my dates are almost always flexible, so I want to see all / any dates available for any properties, can’t do this anymore. I do not like that as a host or as a guest. I have so many dates that are soon that just never get booked anymore as guests don’t see them as available anymore unless they are looking for specific exact dates. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Trinette---Chris0  yes it is very frustrating.

I looked for other Airbnbs in my neighborhood and I couldn't see them all at once like I used to. Now I should change dates to catch them when they are available.

This was an unbelievably stupid change.

And yes, my workdays are also empty, and weekends are booked even though Zagreb is not just a weekend destination.

[Kathie21]

Frustrating as a guest too - I've pretty much given up on Airbnb when looking for a place to stay

[Fred13]

This is a distinct flaw in their approach, brought up many times on this board last summer, after it start it. The person has to go to the calendar and 'Edit' date to get back to the old methodology. You never require the customer to discover/learn a 'trick' to use a product. Sooner or later it will change, because it makes no sense.

[Tamara682]

I hope this is helpful. I put in a ticket for something similar. Then hosts smarter than I suggested I go to Pro Tools. Hate the calendar look on Pro Tools, but that's where you want to be. There you can breakdown everything you want.

Also, if a guest puts in no dates at all, they should be able to see what's available*.

Then they can plug in dates and change them around based on choosing a specific listing and plugging in all sort of dates to see if they are available on the calendar.

*Available  - only the options shown per page are on the map. Pgs1 and 2 etc., will have different map entries.

Guest will have to scroll through outer limit listings that Airbnb posts before the complete list of specific city listings they are requesting - so they're not going to see all of what is available in Timbucktwo for instance on Page 1.

They'll see a few on Timbuktwo and several from surrounding cities and maybe even states. It could take pages and pages literally to see what all is available in the actual area they are looking for.

Hope this helps. I feel your pain 🙂

[John5097]

@Trinette---Chris0 

Thanks for tagging me, and articulating your points so well. 

I've been reading and agree. 

I just had a cancelation for two nights on a weekday 6 days out. 

In the past when that happened page views would instantly ramp up, and would be rebooked. Now though page views do not ramp up, and are the lowest in the past year. I'm always booked months in advance, so show up at the top if guest select specific dates. 

But it appears that booking weeknights is no longer a high priority. I think you are likely right and Airbnb wants to upsell guest into longer stays. But it doesn't make sense, as weekends always booked way in advance, and now guest can't find available weekdays.

It may be that the algorithm was just pushed too far in one direction, and a technical challenge.

I also simply don't have any availability for months out unless someone cancels, then I'm no longer getting increase in views.

At least for now it appears this is the new normal for some host.

Other listings with more availability gets higher priority but there is a reason it's not getting booked in the first place and has low ratings.

This is the single reason I started listing on another platform, to book the weeknights Airbnb doesn't want to book anymore, although I like the Airbnb platform more, as the other one is still set up for whole house vacation rentals where host has separate rental contract. Also I have so few availability and starting from scratch with no reviews. I got very few views on other sites, like a handful in a month, but still managed to get booking, so would need to commit if making a transition. In fact I'm hosting my first guest from a different platform right now so hopefully will get my first review, so I can book the empty weeknights.   

Thats amazing you have a 5 star overall with so many reviews over such a long time! I'm only at 296 five star reviews. 🙂 

[Trinette---Chris0]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts John, really appreciate it. You made a lot of great points. We have great search placement in search, but it says we do not have any available dates for months out under our listing because it is showing the first whole week and not the actual first available date. Unfortunately Airbnb doing this with the search is forcing us to switch to other platforms because of this issue of not being able to book weekdays and short stays now. I have only ever been 100% with airbnb for many years and have always been booked but now we are looking at VRBO and I spoke to another local host that I know a few days ago and they said the exact same thing we are saying that they do not book weekdays anymore and are going to start using VRBO too because of this specific issue of only showing weekends and whole weeks in the search now. Such a frustrating thing for both guests and hosts, it makes no sense. 

[Viviane80]

I totally echo this. We are in fact in the same area as Trinette and have the same problem... and the same exasperation at this unforced error on their part that totally hurts our visibility. Nowadays, people want to book a place or an experience (often mid-week) *before* picking their dates. And (they really should know this!) at least in the Bay Area, guests like to pop around and divide a longer vacation into multiple stays (including on weekdays) and multiple properties. 

It's even worse for us because we have a 3-night minimum on weekends, and guess what? If you selected "Flexible" you get TWO choices: Week or Weekend. And Weekend means only TWO nights. Airbnb has decreed that a weekend shall be Friday and Saturday night only. Not what the guest may be looking for, and not what the host may prefer. Which means we are all but invisible for those who choose the "Flexible" option. 

What a boneheaded move.

It's too bad, because, like Trinette and Chris, we are top-rated and are offer exactly the kind of quality guest experience that Airbnb wants to be known for as a brand. Clearly, despite their big brand statements, they are all about the quantity, not quality. 

And why? Why? Because Airbnb is making the same mistake so many other successful/beloved brands make when they start to believe their own PR and sacrifice the very thing that made them so popular... at the altar of their quarterly results.

Live by the algorithm, die by the algorithm, I guess. We will now be forced to open to guests from other platforms, starting with VRBO.  Such a waste!

[Karen2360]

Hello - I completely agree!!!  Has there been any response from AirBnB?

I've been trying to find out the answer to this as I also AGREE it is super frustrating!

We are in Queenstown, New Zealand and often have weekdays available rather than weekends or whole weeks for months - so our listing is not showing up.  

We are a year round destination!  Also when I am searching sometime I don't know when we want to go but are just browsing.

I agree that this needs to be changed - any insight on any movement on this by AirBnB would be MUCH appreciated.

[Trinette---Chris0]

Unfortunately no response from Airbnb I tried contacting them multiple times without success. They intend it to be this way. 

[Laura6265]

I appreciate your comments about bookings-

A few weeks ago, I joined the early airbnb site with the new programs to get more guests.

I started doing Promotions for 4-8 days.

June 21-28 I had 54 views 0 bookings

July 9-12 I had 139 views, only 1 booking

Aug 7-15 I had 18 views, 0 bookings. 

I called airbnb a few nights ago, & they said that my site was working- people just didn't book.

I think that my reduced pricing around $240 is only showing the higher prices from the end of the year. I don't know why? 

We are in Orlando area-