A good article for a re-read: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Your-top-questions-about-Airbnb-Search/m-p/509644 – this was written by Lizzie in September 2017 – hopefully it's still relevant.
So, I've been reading a lot on the forum recently, and found myself getting a tad overwrought, worrying about percentages, star-ratings, rankings etc – the above article helped me to put things into perspective a bit...
Also been playing around on the search page a lot! (I know, I should get a life... ;)) Call me “easily impressed” but, honestly, I think the website is wonderful! inspite of the occasional glitsch, and the tweaking. Maybe I'm of an age where technology still amazes me... But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have achieved this (admittedly fairly modest) level of income, if not for this platform.
A general search of our local area, without putting in dates (or using any other filters) shows 55 listings; the top one isn't a superhost, doesn't do Instant Book, has a 2-night minimum stay, and is by no means the cheapest – she must be doing something else right, eh? Meanwhile, our listing is 17th. However, the top one has a fair amount of availability in the coming weeks; we are pretty well booked up. So, clearly, availability is one of the (over 100 factors) which is included in the algorithm. I have no complaints about being 17th, given that we have the bookings! When I put a date in, we come 6th. When I use more filters, we're often showing top. I rather hope that if/when guests become more familiar with the way Airbnb searches work, they are more likely to find us, if we're what they're looking for! And the same for everyone else.
I think what I'm saying is, I'm going to (try to) stop worrying about what factors may penalise me (eg not using Instant Book, declining guests - I decline a fair number) and instead concentrate on doing the best I can, with what I've got, because we must be doing something right.
It's likely all of the above has been said before, and better, by others – sorry if I'm being repetitive, I guess I just wanted to get my head a little straighter 🙂
Other random points:
I'm finding it a lot easier to be philosophical now that we have a healthy number of bookings in the pipeline; it was a different situation a couple of months back – we had so few bookings, I thought we'd been “disappeared!” And, of course, it could all change again.
Regarding the opinion that Airbnb want to cull the traditional hosts in favour of non-hosted listings, I honestly don't know if that's true or not. Obviously, I'd like to think not, but... I used to work for a small 'legal aid' firm and we basically had to let ourselves be taken over by a big 'legal aid' firm, because the Legal Aid Board didn't want to deal with hundreds of small firms, they wanted to deal with one or two big ones – to simplify admin, cut costs, I guess. I wonder if that's the way Airbnb thinks.
The need to accept that there'll be lean periods as well as fruitful periods.
I don't think Airbnb owes me a living; likewise, if it suited me better, I'd go elsewhere.
Re the discussion on dividing the platform to separate hosted from non-hosted, my gut feeling is that it would be a good idea. Having said that, I've found that the available filters work quite well to narrow down one's search to what one is looking for – could be a different kettle of fish in other, bigger towns than mine though.
Phew, enough rambling 😉 Cheers to anyone who has got this far!
