Listing not appearing in searches

[Danlee1]

Hello,

I am a Superhost with a perfect overall 5 star rating. This year, I was selected by Airbnb as the number one “most hospitable host” in the state of New Mexico based on my ratings. I regularly search my own listing as a guest to see the other available properties for dates that I have open. For about 2 years, I have always come up as the very first listing when searching Santa Fe, NM. However, last week, out of the blue, my listing does not come up AT ALL unless you hover over the map where I am located. I have been talking to Customer Support every day for nearly a week without any explanation or resolution. I know this has an extremely negative impact on the ability for my property to be booked. Has anyone else had this issue or does anyone have any suggestions to correct the issue. I’m fairly distraught about this and discouraged that Airbnb Support has not been able to help at all. Thanks so much for reading this. 

https://www.airbnb.com/h/magical-casita-on-scenic-anasazi-land

[Breanna]

Hi @Danlee1,

It sounds like you've poured a lot of love into Hosting! Were you able to get this resolved with customer service?

I did take a look and see your listing coming up as the first one in Santa Fe when I search!

[Danlee1]

Thank you very very much for looking Breanna. I am guessing you found my listing because you used the link that I shared that goes directly to the casita? But, if you just searched Santa Fe without my link then my listing would not come up. Customer service has not been able to explain what has happened and have been talking to them for over a week. 😔 I love being a host and am so sad. If you have time to try searching Santa Fe, NM without my direct link and let me know if you see my listing, I would appreciate it so very much! Thank you again.

[Breanna]

@Danlee1 Actually I searched separately as I didn't want any browsing history to influence it!

Even on another account on a different device, the Magical Desert Casita is the first one on the list in Santa Fe. For reference, I'm also choosing "Flexible" dates with October, November, December, and January all selected. 

[Danlee1]

That is so interesting. Thank you again, Breanna. I wonder if it could have anything to do with you being in the UK? Do you have any idea why it would not come up

at all when I search for it? I am clearing all of my browser history and am not searching from my account. I also had a friend search? At any rate, you have eased my mind a little. Thank you! Do you have any advice for reaching a manager at Airbnb? Thank you again for the taking the time to search my listing. If I can help you in any way, please let me know.

i have read some people talking about listings not appearing when specific dates are entered, which I have been doing with my available dates. 

[Breanna]

Perhaps location and the flexible filter are significant. Although we're not customer service, we have raised the issue you're having with another team to see if they can identify any peculiarities or at least determine what's causing your listing to shift around or not appear.

The CC is such a big place and unfortunately it can happen that there might not be much in the way of replies sometimes, but we can definitely ask some fellow Superhosts, @Clara116, @Laurelle3,or @Robin4,  to stop by and take a look or offer some advice! @Joelle43 is also very experienced (and clever) with these types of questions. 

[Danlee1]

Thank you again, Breanna. I am so appreciative of your help!!!!

[Danlee1]

Do you have any advice on how I could encourage more community members to search for my listing and share their findings. I have not posted here before but was surprised no one responded at all…until you made my day today! 

[Bettye6]

Yes I did and it did pop up but you do have a lot of competition out there. I am copying and pasting advice that was given to me. 

I met a very nice past Community Manager @Sybe through this group and this was her invaluable advice.  I say past as I do not think she is a CM any longer but her advice and that she reached out was so comforting and reassuring. I did post my own listing and think you should go to the link, follow the how to and get the advice from many. We all have specific questions, as for me was way to many so I needed to focus on what first steps I needed to take to get my AirBnB running successfully and getting noticed.

@Sybe's word of wisdom were:

To ask for listing critique, I'd recommend following this guide: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Ask-about-your-listing/How-to-ask-for-listing-critique-on-the-Co.... This post outlines how you could format and structure your post, and all you need to do then is post it on the "Advice on your space" board.

I will look forward seeing your post and your specific questions.

The best of luck!

[Bettye6]

Same happened with me though just replying to reaffirm to Danlee1

[Danlee1]

I am just seeing your message @Bettye6. Thank you for responding…so you also searched Santa Fe and saw my listing? 

[Laurelle3]

@Danlee1 I am not sure if I am able to offer a lot of help. @Breanna has asked to have a look at your question.

I have found that when I have bookings for up and comming dates my listing is further down the listings.

My thoughts are;

1. I alreadyhave a booking and people/guests are looking to stay and Airbnb is promoting other accommodation that is vacant.

2. Airbnb is like a salesperson pushing something that is available and a possible sale.

When I look at comparison properties,  Airbnb tells that there are properties are vacant near me.

3. I also check what these properties are charging and I know that there is a price war happening because hosts need bodies in beds to pay for their financial commitments.

4. My rating is 4.99 and is higher than other properties near me and I am a Superhost. 

I don't really have an  answer and I only use Airbnb as my booking platform, I think there many more hosts asking this question. So I am sorry that I may not have the answers that you are looking for.

[Danlee1]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond @Laurelle3 and for asking for additional feedback @Beanna (I don’t think I am using these @symbols correctly), but I so appreciate you both for offering your feedback!

I actually only search my listing for the specific open dates on my calendar so that, as you mentioned, I can check the number of competing properties and their prices. Because I am searching my available dates, and I am a “Rare Find” and Superhost, it doesn’t seem to make any sense that I do not appear AT ALL (although Breanna found my listing without using specific dates…me, my friends and family cannot find my listing when entering open dates?). I actually scoured past entries about listings not showing up in searches and found one that explained how Airbnb will change their search algorithms, out of the blue, to exclude properties that are on the outskirts of larger popular cities, like Santa Fe, NM. That appears to be what has happened with my listing and in my area. I am on the outskirts of Santa Fe, and now only show up when searching two tiny towns that I am closer to than I am to Santa Fe. These tiny towns are not known and would rarely, if ever be specifically searched for. FYI, I am only 17 miles from Santa Fe. I don’t know how Airbnb benefits from changing the algorithm in this way, but sadly, I guess it is somewhat common. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I will continue to contact customer support until I can get an explanation. It is just very disheartening to be a host for more than 10 years and have a high performing property that has suddenly become very difficult, if not impossible for customers to find. 😔

[Laurelle3]

@Danlee1 after reading your reply my thoughts are that as you mentioned that you are 17 miles from Santa Fe which could have changed with location placement with Airbnb algorithms.

My other thought is, there is less people travelling or taking holidays due to financial times and if the is less people booking Santa Fe Central. It means there is a glut of properties on the market and because yours is further out of the central Santa Fe your property is further down the list.

Suggestion is

Change some of your photos each day. Maybe take new photos or move the furniture around or remove or add  pieces of items in the rooms This gives your property a new look.

Change your wording introduction and other topics on list amenities, rules description of property or yourself, your guest manual.

Do one at a time each day.

The reason being the AI algorithms thinks that there is movement. This has been mentioned before on these pages.

These are just a few suggestions that might help 😉 who knows it is worth a try. But sometimes we have to accept what it is during these finance times.

[Danlee1]

Thank you, again! I have been making changes as you have suggested every day for a week with no change in my search results. I did just get off the phone with Customer Support and finally had someone tell me that I was correct that my listing should be showing up and that it is an issue that it is not appearing. He had me turn “instant book” on and off and do some other very basic trouble shooting/reset things, which unfortunately did not help. He told me that if he could not figure out the problem he would escalate my issue to the “Technical Team”. Fingers crossed that this will happen and the issue will be resolved.