I don't think anybody said Laura has lost her "appeal". She's obviously a VERY beautiful woman.
But the show absolutely does not write her, from a purely sex appeal perspective, like they use to, and like they write other women in her age bracket.
Alexis gets to have a torrid on/off romance with Julian, and her sex appeal is heavily emphasized.
Anna had Duke, but also gets flirtations with several different, often younger, men. She's had, what, 5 romances/quasi-romances?
Laura, under Frank, wasn't wanted by Luke anymore. She wasn't written to have had a love life in France. She had a mostly offscreen romance with Scotty, that had 0 sex appeal. And she has a sweet, mature relationship with Kevin; they did have one bedroom scene, but for the most part they aren't "hot". They're nice in a Bobbie/Tony or Steve/Audrey kind of way.
How the writers/producer see Laura makes a HUGE difference in Genie's viability with this show, with the pairings they're willing to try.
She never gets to test the waters with the leading men. I can't even imagine them testing her with Sonny, Franco, Julian, Valentin or Finn. Which is amazing since Laura's great romance was with LUKE SPENCER, the original GH bad boy.
We'd be naive to not consider that this limited, too mature view of Laura absolutely affects how viable Frank sees her on the canvas.
Because without being seen as a real romantic lead? Well Laura isn't going to be any better off than Lucy, Monica, Felicia or Bobbie. All great characters who deserve so, so much more than they get. And all characters who, sadly, aren't seen as too romantically viable.
Note that, under Ron, Lucy was, and that was the most we ever saw her.