My experience with the new features is mixed. I have 2 listings. The Maui search produces amazing results. I put a 2 bedroom, 4 bed with an ocean view near a beach in Maui for less than $450/night, for anytime in November. One property came up…mine! Not only that, but my primary photo was changed to the photo that best highlighted the ocean view! Not bad!
My second property is in the city, so the new categories don’t help that listing at all. I don’t quite understand why they completely disregarded city categories, but they did say that they are adding more and more categories all the time, so maybe city categories will appear soon. I would imagine that a significant number of Airbnbs are in or around cities. I even have friends who like to visit cities in particular, and traditionally have “thrown a dart”, so to speak, to figure out which city to visit next. It would be nice for them to have categories like Cosmopolitan City, Great Food, Top-notch Entertainment, Nightlife, Live Music, etc.