Listing not appearing in search results

[Lorraine-Forex0]

 I joined in May 2016. Despite remarks that there are too many apartments now in Airbnb, my first few months were great. I pitched my price just a little lower than others in the area and I got about 80-95% booking.

Following stagnant 3 weeks in September/October 2016, I reduced my prices 45% for almost a month and it made no difference! So, I went to internet Cafes and tried to login and search for dates I know my apartment is free. My apartment was not  coming up even for periods of over a month!

Based on the suggestion of one of the Hosts, I recently snoozed for four days. It made no difference.  I have since put my price  back up to a level in my area. It still doesn't change the fact that my apartment is not even coming up in search results. Also, Stats shown on my iPad are not accurate. It says I have had booking when in fact I have had none!!!

I recently received an email suggesting I reduce my price by over 50%. If the price I charge per day is about as much as it cost to deep clean the apartment, then, there is nothing left to cover expenses let alone some profit.

I must confess that I am very disullusioned and desparately need help from Airbnb.

Does anyone have ideas about how to resolve this? I am a desparate Host at this point.

[Lorraine-Forex0]

 I joined in May 2016. Despite remarks that there are too many apartments now in Airbnb, my first few months were great. I pitched my price just a little lower than others in the area and I got about 80-95% booking.

Following stagnant 3 weeks in September/October 2016, I reduced my prices 45% for almost a month and it made no difference! So, I went to internet Cafes and tried to login and search for dates I know my apartment is free. My apartment was not  coming up even for periods of over a month!

Based on the suggestion of one of the Hosts, I recently snoozed for four days. It made no difference.  I have since put my price  back up to a level in my area. It still doesn't change the fact that my apartment is not even coming up in search results. Also, Stats shown on my iPad are not accurate. It says I have had booking when in fact I have had none!!!

I recently received an email suggesting I reduce my price by over 50%. If the price I charge per day is about as much as it cost to deep clean the apartment, then, there is nothing left to cover expenses let alone some profit.

I must confess that I am very disullusioned and desparately need help from Airbnb.

Does anyone have ideas about how to resolve this? I am a desparate Host at this point.

[Susie0]

When you try searching it may only show instant booking listings by default but not sure. 

[Lorraine-Forex0]

Thanks but, my Listing has always had Instant Booking turned on. So, it's not that.

[Huma0]

Hi @Lorraine-Forex0, I'm still getting bookings but they have slowed down a lot. I assumed it was just because we're coming into a low season, but then realised that my listing is not appearing etiher. So, I created a post about it yesterday. See:

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Boosting-position-in-search-results/m-p/293278#M67964

Other hosts have posted suggestions as to the reason as well as some info on how the search results/filters work, which you might find helpful.

[Huma0]

Actually @Lorraine-Forex0, I just went to your profile to take a look at your listing. Although I could see you had a guidebook for a place in London, I couldn't see any listings on your profile, which is a bit odd. Does your listing not show on search results even when you are logged in? What about when you add very specific filters that should help to find it?

If you yourself can't see your listing on your own profile, I would suggest contacting Airbnb to find out what has happened to it!

[Lorraine-Forex0]

That's just it. Some people are finding me; some not at all and others just with part information. Something is not right. There is a glitch in the system and with so many postings of the same problems, Airbnb surely must know what it is.

[Lorraine-Forex0]

Thank you. I have read the Thread. Let's hope a solution is offered soon.

[Lucy-and-Loic0]

Hi @Lorraine-Forex0, I just went to look at your listing (I can see it) and searched London in your price range and you're showing up right at the top.  I am located in Lyon, France.  

[Lorraine-Forex0]

That is encouraging. What type of Browser are you using?

[Lucy-and-Loic0]

I am in safari on a mac.

[Lorraine-Forex0]

Thx for your quick response. That's actually very encouraging. I read in one of the Threads that Airbnb recommend using  Chrome. I just went to our high street and tried to search for my apartment. Still cannot see it. Some searches returned less than Airbnb max nr. pages of 17, but, my apartment is not included.

[Clare0]

@Lorraine-Forex0 While there are several functions that work best on an app or through an internet browser, the search function isn't one of them. 

What many hosts don't realize is that the search function is totally geared toward guest preferences, so if you just looked for Entire Homes without any other information, you'd be singing with the angels before you found your listing.  London has 50,000 Airbnb listings (don't know how many are Entire Homes) so a general search just produces random listings. 

(Sorry @Huma0) check out this link to understand more fully how the search function works: 

http://blog.airbnb.com/how-search-makes-the-best-matches/

When I entered filters for attributes you have in your listing, it came right up!

[Huma0]

Hi @Clare0 useful insight again!

Sorry, what I meant re @Lorraine-Forex0's listing not showing up was on her profile page. I didn't try to do a search for it like a guest, just checked out her profile and I could't see any listings, only a guidebook, which I thought was very odd. This is using Explorer on my PC laptop. Don't know if it would be different in another browser.

I also think it's extremely odd that she's being told in her stats that she has requests and bookings when her inbox shows none!

Surely that isn't normal?

[Clare0]

@Huma0 and @Lorraine-Forex0 Yes, I forgot to mention that the stats, especially as they appear in the app, are showing screwy results.  Airbnb is aware of it and working on getting it fixed.  How do I know?  I follow Airbnb's Twitter feed.  🙂

[Huma0]

I actually deleted the app from my iPad a couple of days ago because there are too many glitches (telling me I had no messages when I had booking requests etc.). This meant my response rate went down last time I was on a business trip and it took a while to build it back up again. I now now only use Airbnb in a browser. There are still glitches but it's not as bad.