How to Locate Property via a Search
Are you trying to locate your property through a search and growing frustrated at the lack of results? The search algorithms Vrbo and Airbnb use are designed to favor certain data points. To help you successfully( and quickly) locate your property, we’ ve put together a list of best practices for you to utilize.
General Things to Keep in Mind
At present, all online travel agency bookings are capped at 14 nights. Dates searched that are longer than 14 nights will not populate on any channel.
All 360 Blue Emerald Coast listings( not Callista or Cape San Blas) have a $ 600 cancellation fee. No homes with 360 Blue will populate if the“ free cancellation” filter is selected.
Tips to use when searching for your home:
• Search as guests search. The algorithms on Airbnb and Vrbo are optimized to align with a guest experience.
• To replicate a guest search, use specific dates with 3-4 filters per search. Common filters are the number of bedrooms, guest count, and an amenity that is available on the property you are searching for.
• Use dates that you know are available for booking.
• Use the correct Minimum Length of Stay requirements when entering dates to search
• Expand the price defaults to include all pricing( no minimum or maximum amounts).
What doesn’ t work?
• Searching by address. At one time this was possible on Vrbo, but it is no longer supported.
• Searching by home name.
• Undated searches – given the number of homes in the market, and the limit on search result numbers, it’ s almost impossible to find a home with an undated / unfiltered search( Vrbo caps searches at 500 and Airbnb caps searches at 270).
Things to Know
• Maps are not comprehensive
• On both Airbnb and Vrbo, the maps only pin homes that are in the left-hand search results. If there are multiple pages of results, you’ ll need to scroll through. The map updates each time the page changes.
• Once dates / filters are entered, you can zoom in on the map. There are often multiple pages of results.
• It’ s possible the property will not be pinned exactly. If you find the pin is missing or way off the actual location, please let your PM know.
• Airbnb has employed AI to“ learn” guest search behavior and likely won’ t provide the same results on each search. If you do multiple searches, the AI tool knows that you’ ve searched the same thing before and didn’ t book, so you’ ll be provided with different results. This can cause your home not to appear if you regularly search for it and don’ t book.
• Airbnb also defaults all listings to a“ General Area” for location. This can cause the home not to pin on the exact property in the listing search results. This is due to privacy concerns. Upon request, we can change this to“ Exact Location,” which can help the map pin.
• Vrbo has a 48-hour arrival block in place. If you search for an arrival date within 48 hours, the home will not populate.
• Vrbo has implemented AI for photos. They determine the photos for the“ rooms” section and sometimes the main image of the property. At this time, we’ re unable to request edits to these AI-determined photo choices.