ASO AgencyTravel · US iPhone listing
Does their ASO suck?
Listing creative score · first three captured iPhone screenshots
5/10Fine. A dangerous place to stop.
Airbnb advertises a whole trip while mostly showing homes, then changes city and activity. The listings are real enough to be useful. The opening still needs one visitor making one clear choice.
Gab’s verdict · 5/10Gabriel Machuret
One storefront, one language and a dated capture. This is an independent editorial audit, not a client case study.
Gab’s take · Five criteria. Two points each.
The homes and experience detail provide some useful product evidence. Keep the photography. Enlarge the information that helps somebody choose and explain why the next category belongs in the same trip. Follow one trip, enlarge the useful comparison and make the relevant price basis readable. Category expansion should follow comprehension rather than substitute for it.
One-of-a-kind is appealing but broadly claimed.
Listings show detail without a focused booking decision.
Small prices and conditions compete with large photography.
Homes dominate before an unrelated activity changes the trip.
Specific homes and local experiences help without fully explaining selection.
0: not earned · 1: useful but incomplete · 2: clearly demonstrated. Judged on the dated opening creative; public metadata provides context. These points assess creative execution, not private conversion or ranking performance. Read the scoring criteria · See all ten verdict levels
Inspect the numbered original, read the problem, then compare the proposed fix. The publisher’s creative stays unchanged.
What the visitor sees → what I’d change
Look at the original: The opening shows three navigation categories while most of the visible content consists of homes.
Why I’m flagging it: Three categories are introduced while homes dominate the content.
Lead with one specific trip-planning benefit.
What the visitor sees → what I’d change
Look at the original: A particular home is presented with several booking-decision details and cancellation wording.
Why I’m flagging it: Photography competes with total, rating and cancellation wording.
Enlarge the booking details needed to judge the same home accurately.
What the visitor sees → what I’d change
Look at the original: The activity has its own listing, price basis and reviews.
Why I’m flagging it: A different activity example broadens rather than completes the journey.
Use a experience tied to the same trip with clear price scope.
Proposed copy for discussion. These are not current listing fields or tested winners.
Observed listing
Homes, experiences, services
Proposed alternative
Book homes and experiences
Name 6/30 · Subtitle 26/30 charactersKeep the established name and make the two categories demonstrated most clearly in the captured sequence into explicit actions. This alternative prioritises immediate comprehension over naming every category.
The tradeoff: Services disappear from the subtitle, which may undermine a deliberate growth priority or hide relevant demand. Compare that cost against stay and experience intent before adopting the narrower wording.
Read the sequence from top to bottom on mobile, left to right on desktop. These are message-layout sketches, not screens from Airbnb or tested results.
Proposed headline
Put this in the frame: A current home-search result with accurate dates, guest context and meaningful decision information.
Why it earns the space: Start with the accommodation job while avoiding universal price or cancellation claims.
Proposed headline
Put this in the frame: A verified home-detail screen with relevant photos and conditions.
Why it earns the space: Give the traveller evidence for a decision rather than another broad travel promise.
Proposed headline
Put this in the frame: A current, separately bookable local experience with price basis and duration.
Why it earns the space: Introduce the wider trip while making clear that the activity is a distinct purchase.
The test: Does placing the existing home-results frame first improve conversion compared with the current broad trip introduction? The sketch gives the designer a direction; the actual product and access conditions decide what can ship.
Bring the listing. I’ll help you decide what to keep, what to fix and what to test.
Observed competitor metadata
Hotels, flights & car rentals
Booking.com explicitly lists hotels, travel, flights and car rentals.
The lesson: Both apps communicate range, but different categories solve different jobs. Airbnb’s home and local-experience examples should carry the distinction.
Observed competitor metadata
Member prices & weekend deals
Vrbo concentrates on vacation rentals, member prices and weekend deals.
The lesson: A stay-first visitor receives a narrower proposition. Test whether Airbnb’s broader opening helps or distracts that visitor.
Observed competitor metadata
Hotels, Restaurants, Tours
Tripadvisor spans planning and booking, with hotels, restaurants and tours.
The lesson: Planning a trip and completing a home booking are not identical intentions. A broader promise needs concrete category examples.
Intent candidates grounded in the listing—not fabricated search-volume or difficulty scores.
Visitor’s job: Choose accommodation for a particular trip.
Evidence: Homes dominate the first two screenshots, with a specific apartment example.
Decision: Research stay type and trip needs rather than assuming all accommodation seekers want a hotel substitute.
Visitor’s job: Find and book something to do at a destination.
Evidence: The third still shows a separately priced cooking experience.
Decision: Verify the current experience inventory and booking scope; do not imply universal destination availability.
Visitor’s job: Organise more than one part of a journey.
Evidence: The opening positions several bookable categories together.
Decision: Check whether the app actually supports the planning workflow implied by proposed copy; category breadth alone is not an itinerary feature.
The unseen keyword field may already cover some of these terms. Build an evidence-backed keyword shortlist before making a metadata change.
This selection deliberately contrasts two host accounts with one guest account. The host accounts are historical and concern different service experiences. Neither star ratings nor these selected stories establish current cancellation policy, support quality or typical hosting outcomes.
Sample: 3 selected accounts from 8 displayed reviews. Dates: 7 September 2020–27 October 2025. No sentiment percentage is calculated.
5 January 2021 · 5/5 stars
“managed the bookings”
A January 2021 host described positive hosting, payment and support experiences.
What I’d investigate: Keep host-side satisfaction separate from guest acquisition evidence and do not imply that historical services are still universally offered.
Listing review source · Review ID 683244492727 October 2025 · 5/5 stars
“cancellation”
An October 2025 guest praised help with a changed travel plan and payment options.
What I’d investigate: Use this as a clarity research lead; one successful cancellation does not establish flexibility for every reservation.
Listing review source · Review ID 133189683277 September 2020 · 5/5 stars
“customer side”
A September 2020 host described a negative support dispute.
What I’d investigate: The five-star rating conflicts with the critical account. Preserve that distinction and do not repeat disputed allegations as verified current policy.
Listing review source · Review ID 6403068294A displayed review can be old, unusually positive or internally inconsistent with its star rating. These accounts suggest questions; they do not establish current defects or typical customer experience. Use the Review Research Desk to keep evidence and interpretation separate.
Three categories are introduced while homes dominate the content.
Deliverable: Lead with one specific supported trip-planning benefit.
Creative brief and current-product checkPhotography competes with total, rating and cancellation wording.
Deliverable: Enlarge the booking details needed to judge the same home accurately.
Creative brief and current-product checkA different activity example broadens rather than completes the journey.
Deliverable: Use a supported experience tied to the same trip with clear price scope.
Creative brief and current-product checkDoes placing the existing home-results frame first improve conversion compared with the current broad trip introduction?
Check Apple’s current product page optimization guidance and custom product page guidance before configuring a test. Write your experiment brief.
1–3: thumbs down · 4–6: thumbs up and down · 7–10: thumbs up
The basics need a serious rethink.
Too many obvious things have been left unfinished.
There is a useful product here. The listing needs to show it.
Some basics work, but the opening wastes attention and under-explains the benefit.
There is usable creative here, but too much of the sales argument is left to the visitor.
Real strengths, undermined by meaningful gaps in the opening story or execution.
A clear, useful demonstration with specific refinements still needed.
The main promise is clear and supported. Refinement matters more than reinvention.
Clear positioning, thoughtful choices and very few loose ends.
An unusually clear, convincing storefront worth learning from.
An editorial verdict on the captured storefront, not a measured ASO score or an assessment of an agency’s private work.
No private analytics, search-rank dataset or internal keyword field was supplied. Review quotations are short excerpts; explanations are our summaries. App names and screenshots belong to their respective owners. We are not affiliated with Airbnb. Read our editorial methodology.
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