@Robin4
Right before the rollout of the Summer Release, my views (and bookings) were looking very healthy, especially for the 'large and lovely' room. Take a look at them now:
The views on two of the rooms have more or less halved, but 'large and lovely' is down 1644 views!!!! Having looked at these stats just by chance right before the changes, I'm pretty sure that almost all of the views showing for the past month were in the first half of that period, i.e. before the introduction of the Summer Release.
So, while @Emiel1 is correct in that guests can still search in the traditional way, which is something I expected my target market to do, there's clearly a dramatic drop in views. I noticed after the first few days that I was still getting enquiries (and one booking request which was withdrawn) for two of the rooms, but none for 'large and lovely', which has always been my most popular room. Now the enquiries seem to have completely stopped too.
The only time I experienced anything like this is when Airbnb started really pushing IB and made it the default setting unless guests turned it off. My bookings just stopped overnight and only resumed when I turned on IB. I wasn't happy about that, but at least there was something I could do. Now, there is nothing to be done. Sure, one can tweak the listings, but mine are up to date with all amenities listed and the photos are high quality. I don't know which keywords to add because, other than shared homes, my listings don't fit the categories anyway. I'm not going to put 'grand piano' when I don't have one.
I totally get why you would focus on other listing platforms. Unfortunately, for a homestay in the UK, there don't seem to be other options. If things continue as they are, I will have to find alternative ways to market the listings, e.g. contacting universities and hospitals etc.
The one positive is that I get more and more requests from returning guests, which I normally can't accommodate because the rooms are always booked. Now, at least those guests will get a look in!