Airbnb Answers: Guest profile photos

[Airbnb]

Update: January, 2019

A few months ago, we told you about some changes Airbnb was making to the way guest profile photos are displayed. You can read the original post, below.

Now that those changes are being introduced gradually, we want to make sure you have all the information you need. Here’s a recap of what will be changing, along with some tips.

New photo process

Moving forward, rather than displaying a potential guest’s profile photo before the booking is accepted, you’ll receive a guest’s photo after you’ve accepted the booking request. If you have Instant Book turned on, you won’t notice a change to the booking process.

Airbnb does not require guests to have profile photos. Although most guests provide a photo, some have told us they don’t want to share a picture of themselves when booking, and we listened.

At the same time, many of you told us that you value guest profile photos, and we listened to you, too. That’s why we’ve introduced a new option for hosts to be able to customize their own booking requirements.

New host control

You now have the option to require that your guests provide a profile photo. Again, the photo will be visible to you only after you accept the booking request. If you’d like to require your guests to provide a profile photo, you’ll need to turn on the control option in your settings for each of your listings, either on mobile or on web. Specifically:

On mobile:

1. Go to the listing you’d like to require profile photos for
2. Tap Booking settings
3. Tap Guest requirements
4. Look for the Profile photo section and tap Edit
5. Tap Require a profile photo
6. Tap Save

On web:

1. From your host dashboard, click Listings
2. Click Booking settings
3. Next to Guest requirements, click Edit
4. Check the box next to Profile photo
5. Click Save

If you take this step and a potential guest doesn’t already have a profile photo, they’ll be prompted to upload one before they can request to book your space. A guest’s profile photo will not be available to you until after you accept the booking request. If the guest doesn’t want to provide a photo, then they won’t be able to book your space. 

Additional support

If you choose to require that your guests have a profile photo and one of your potential guests uploads an image that doesn’t show their face—a photo of a sunset or their dog, for instance—then you can call Airbnb’s Community Support. They’ll work with you to address the issue, and if you feel uncomfortable hosting someone without a photo that shows their face, you can request to cancel the reservation penalty-free.

As a reminder, Airbnb’s nondiscrimination policy prohibits hosts from making booking decisions or canceling reservations based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. 

As an extra step, as always, you can require guests to provide a government ID to Airbnb in order to be able to book your space. You can read more about that process here.

Why these changes are important

We talked with lots of hosts and guests about profile photos, and we think these changes satisfy the core concerns and feedback we heard. We’ll be paying close attention to how these changes to profile photos affect our community, and will continue working to improve and simplify the process to ensure you feel comfortable hosting. We hope you’ll share your feedback with us so we can continue to build a community where everyone can belong. Thank you for hosting.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October, 2018

You've been asking a lot about guest profile photos, and Airbnb has been working on new policies to address your concerns. Here is an update from Airbnb:

Today, we’re announcing some changes we will be making to the way we display guest profile photos.

Moving forward, rather than displaying a potential guest’s profile photo before the booking is accepted, hosts will receive a guest’s photo in the booking process only after they’ve accepted the booking request. Airbnb does not require all guests to provide a photo. Instead, we’ll be giving hosts the option to ask their guests to provide a profile photo, which will only be presented to hosts after they accept the booking. We have discussed some of this work in the past and we want you to know more about the changes we will be making in the coming months.

We have participated in a number of conversations with hosts and guests regarding this topic. We have listened to our community, and while most guests provide a photo, some guests told us they don’t want to share a picture of themselves when booking. We also recognize that concerns have been raised about the potential for photos to be misused in a way that violates our nondiscrimination policy.

At the same time, hosts have told us that they value profile photos because they can help hosts and guests get to know one another before a trip begins and help hosts recognize guests when they check in. Additionally, we’ve seen how photos can be a useful tool for enhancing trust and promoting community.

We want to balance these concerns. Airbnb does not require guests to provide a profile photo when booking a listing and, as we discussed earlier this summer with our hosts, we will be implementing a series of changes in the months ahead:

• If a guest chooses to provide a profile photo, that profile photo won’t be displayed to the host as part of the booking process until after the booking is confirmed.
• Because some hosts value profile photos and want to be able to know who they can expect at their front door, we will give hosts the option to ask that guests provide a profile photo prior to booking, which will only be presented to the host after the host accepts the booking request. This new option comes with important safeguards that are designed to ensure our community is fair and open to everyone:
  • Hosts must turn on this feature for each of their listings proactively, before they receive a reservation request.
  • If a host asks for a profile photo, we’ll prompt guests to upload one to their Airbnb profile before they can request to book that host’s particular listing; however, the photo will not be presented to the host until after the booking is confirmed.

If a host cancels a reservation after they see a guest’s photo, the guest will have an easy way to contact Airbnb and report any concerns about potential discrimination by the host in violation of our nondiscrimination policy and Community Commitment. If any guest believes he or she has been discriminated against and notifies our team, we’ll immediately help them book an alternative listing consistent with our Open Doors Policy, investigate the report, and take appropriate action. Any host who violates our nondiscrimination policy may be permanently banned from using Airbnb.

This announcement follows the commitment we made in 2016 to evaluate how we display guest profile photos in the booking process. As we implement these changes in the coming months, we hope you’ll share your feedback with us so we can continue to make thoughtful changes that make the Airbnb community a place where everyone can belong.

[Helen56]

I haven't had any new bookings since this change happened, but I'm dismayed by your photo of the grey circles and initials.  I only rent my guest room out to women as I live alone.  How do I even know if a woman or a man is booking???  Occasionally I have had men book, and they are most apologetic when I ask them to re-read my listing: the first sentence says that I only rent to women, and it is reiterated further down.  Since this policy came out I've now added 'I only rent to women' as my first house rule.

I'll now have to ask them what their name is....... but I'm sure I'll have to ask the embarrassing question - are you a woman.  Just awful!!!  If their name is Chris, Taylor, AJ or a foreign name....what else can I do.  

This new policy does nothing to build community and trust.  It just creates worry and fear.

[Wyatt-and-Lisa0]

I disagree with this new policy.  This new policy will make it easier for 3rd party bookings.  We have already had problems with complete strangers showing up at our door.  People who have no profile at all.  They just switch the picture at the last minute (if they even bother to do that).  Maybe the guests should be required to show their government I.D. upon arrival and we should be able to see their I.D. on their profile?  I think Airbnb should just go back to the way it was before.  

[Shelley6]

I have also declined or delayed bookings made by a relative or friend, which are supposed to be unacceptable. In both cases, guests explained that they had “done this before and nobody had a problem with it”.

 It really seems to me that many hosts just don’t care who they are inviting into their homes. I don’t get it.

[Raphaela4]

Hi Shelley

I had also bookings on behalf of relatives simply because of the booking guests- having internet problems while travelling or not having a credit card etc. 

Me myself had to ask my partner to book my own  airbnb stays because I don't do credit cards and I had to sort out the other option of paying by paypal first. Because as a host  I don't have instant book I tend to ask a few questions to clarify and to get to know my guests' situation further. I do care who books, who stays and that all is true of what they are telling me. I always mentioned that then in my reviews of the guest. E.g. she booked on behalf of her husband such and such or the guest was not the one pictured as my guest. My reviews always take a lot of my time but up till now i found that vital; to let the other hosts know. In return I always read other hosts reviews to make my decision whether to accept guests or not.

In short for various reasons instant book is what they push

I have no instant book turned on / it does not work for me and how I live. Still I want to be able to match people with their photo and even if it is to find them easier on their past reviews' sites. 

I would commit to a block out  some days as an example but I would financially struggle so please community who is up for it- honestly??????

[Sherri-And-Pete0]

We need to have our voices heard. Power in numbers and all that. Call Airbnb. At the very least, email them. 

[Sherri-And-Pete0]

I've added my requirement for photo prior to accepting a reservation. Do guests even have the option/ability to add a photo? I am so disgusted with this new policy.

[Debbie270]

I will ask them to send it on our correspondence when they make a request or inquiry. 

[Valerie249]

I agree with you Sherri. I am seriously considering not allowing Instant Book if I can’t see guest photos. Do the owners of Airbnb not understand that it is us, the hosts, that make their money for them? I do realise they make a lot more in “fees” from guests than hosts, but without us there would be no guests!

 We have been hosting for just over 12 months and I have declined 4 guests in that time. Two of these requests wanted to bring children, even though i stipulate it is not a “family” apartment and the other 2 requests were from people who live in the same city and requested that night.

 I often use FB as a reference as I can get a general opinion of people if they have enough posted to show something of themselves.

This has come about from a “local” musician staying overnight with 3 others when he had booked for one person. The evidence the next day of what they had been up to was still in the bins in the kitchen and bathroom and the whole place reeked of cannabis! That also left the Heat Pump on 30 deg C and all the doors and windows open.  My neighbour in the building on the same floor said he could hear music emost of the night. On contacting the Support Centre I was asked if they had ‘damaged anything”! No, but they had disrespected 

the whole ethos of  what we are doing.

[Ava-Lee0]

I'm so disgusted too. @airbnb has removed our rights to choose who we want in our homes. Has put as with no way to verify if the owner of the account is the person who is at our doors. Has removed the human connection the interpersonal relation with guests. On our side there is a feeling of suspicious activity, fraud and lack of trust. They simply don't get it, It is not removing but adding verifiation and different forms for us to get to know each other. On our side there is a grey area with no enthusiasm after all. Who wants to welcome a grey shadow and their initials. I suggest you @Sherri-And-Pete0 and this is what I am going to do: I will lower my price making guests even more attracted by, leave on all reservations must make a request (not instant booking). So when people show their interest I'll explain to them to call airbnb to remove such policy since I can't see them. Let them call airbnb and clog their lines. That's what I am going to do. I refuse to switch to any photo, not photo. I won't even touch that. I won't collaborate with such policy. If they see this policy works it won't be reversed. 

[Susan1028]

It's been working for me.  Ever since I made it a requirement, my requests to book have had completed profiles

[Sherri-And-Pete0]

How are your guests complying with your request for photos if ABB blocks that? Their customer service rep told me that was impossible.

[Peter-and-Lisa0]

Can't get this new feature to work on any of my listings.  Is it in Beta format or should this be available to all?  Tried on both the site and the app.  There is no "profile photo" box or option to click it on.  

Thanks

Peter Bonanno

[Susan1028]

I's not working because ABB  hasn't implemented it and isn't giong to.

[Mark116]

@Airbnb   Please confirm whether this new no photo prior to booking policy is going to work for both guests and hosts. 

If I can't see the guests photos until they book, I want the same consideration, I want my photo also hidden from the 'lookers' and anyone else on the platform until a booking is finalized.  

[Susan653]

I'm a single mom who hosts  in an in-law apartment that's attached to my house.  I've always used IB because I felt the safeguards within it, i.e. being able to allow only experienced Airbnbrs to IB and to have newbies answer a few questions and provide government ID, etc. before I accepted their reservations, were adequate. My hosting ethos is reflected in the sign in my front garden: "Hate Has No Home Here." The overwhelming majority of my guests--from all over this country and the world--have been wonderful.

Having said that, and despite the locked door between my kids and I and our guests, I absolutely need some visual--beyond a gray circle with an initial on it--of new Airbnbrs who'll be arriving and staying on our property BEFORE I accept their reservations. I mean, really, it's a no-brainer. I usually do in-person check-in, and I'm hard-pressed to imagine myself ordering people who don't match post-reservation profile photos off my property without then losing sleep over the fact that these people now know my address and that their being turned away will negatively affect both my Airbnb standings and my income.

I recently had a third-party booking without realizing until it was too late. This guy booked on behalf of his parents, but made it seem as if he'd also be staying. That turned out not to be the case and further, he told his parents I allowed dogs (which I don't, although I love them). A day before they were to check out, I realized there'd been two dogs staying in the apartment with them the whole time. They were very apologetic and I certainly didn't blame them, as their son told them I allowed dogs and therefore had them violating a rule they didn't even know about.  Of course I let them stay. Their son was apologetic and all was well in the end, but this is just an example of how, even with profile photos, things can go wrong. This is the exception rather than the rule with my hosting experiences. Unfortunately, the new "policy" will most likely  make this type of situation--and far worse--the rule rather than the exception.

If Airbnb really wanted to crack down on discrimination, they'd set up REAL safeguards against discrimination as well as a clear anti-discrimination policy. Why not have an algorithm to track hosts' cancellation patterns? It would soon be clear who's profiling guests and who isn't, and racists could be dealt with accordingly. This latest bit of idiocy is not an anti-discrimination policy; it's an anti-safety policy that puts both hosts AND guests at risk. I really do have to wonder how connected it is to the company going public. If boosting membership at the expense of safety and true community is what's happening here, how sad and cynical that is.

Hosting is my main income stream. Maybe it's true that Airbnb doesn't care about the "small" host anymore, but just wants those who provide a hotel experience. Whether or not that's the case, I'm very close to leaving this platform in the face of this latest insult to my hosting efforts and my safety. If Airbnb wants me gone, fine. Staying isn't worth putting myself or my kids at risk.