Airbnb Answers: Guest profile photos

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Airbnb Answers: Guest profile photos

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.

 

 

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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.

 

1,229 Replies 1,229
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello everyone,

 

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Lizzie and I am the Community Manager here.

 

Thank you for the comments you have shared. To update you, Airbnb's Leadership team are currently reviewing your feedback and will be responding to you as soon as possible.

 

Thanks for your patience. 

 

Lizzie


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Scott474
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

well thanks Lizzie but perhaps they have been a little slow off the mark. I thought they have been 'listening'. We will all look forward to the result of the consultation.

Dear Lizzie,

 

@Lizzie@Airbnb Does AirBnB not realize they’re ENDANGERING guests of color by sending them to racist hosts (who would have otherwise just declined their booking upon seeing their profile pic)? AirBnB is now sending those guests to confront racist hosts IN PERSON instead. Accurate profile pics are a safety issue, both for hosts and guests. Accurate profile pics should be a requirement for safety, trust, and transparency. And whoever thought dumping them for “non-discrimination” should be fired for endangering minority guests, and endangering hosts who don’t know if the person showing up AT THEIR HOME is the person who booked the reservation! HORRIBLE POLICY CHANGE! 

Love this post and the previous one Daniel.  You are so spot on accurate right across the board.

I agree Daniel.

Airbnb should not allowed racist host to be active on Airbnb , I'm sure discriminated person they already informed Airbnb.

And don't forget , guests can be also racist and they can book for bad intentions. 

exactly @Daniel160

 

There is now a home sharing site for POC:

https://noirbnb.com

 

and another in Beta testing called Innclusive.

 

Also, except for Lizzie, there’s been no useful reply to our 1000+ and increasing posts on several threads about our concerns, so it’s clear to me this community isn’t the place to be heard by management and that we really don’t matter as a demographic anymore.  

If we want a useful response, it’s time to share them outside of this limited scope.

Debbie270
Level 5
Franklin, TN

@Lizzie@Airbnb Thank you, Lizzie,  for joining this thread. I sent you a message several days ago and invited you to read our concerns and share them with management. I hope our concerns are listened to and factor into a reversal of the guest photo profile policy.  I will continue to follow this thread closely and encourage all other hosts to do the same.

Thanks,

Debbie 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Thanks @Debbie270. Yes, I have been closely reading and highlighting feedback given here. You may also have seen some of my other responses here in this thread regarding the feature option.

 

I know this is an important area for you and the rest of our host community and so I want you to know that your voices aren't going unheard. 

 

Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts and I hope to speak with you again soon.

 

Lizzie

 


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Lizzie and airbnb admin,

Please reconsider this guest photo concealment.  As a superhost for several years, it would never enter my mind to discriminate on a racial or ethnic basis.  It would enter my mind to protect my property and sanity from underaged party guests.  I also am alerted if I see someone of size who may not fit into our tiny shower -- there are kind ways to mention such things without exclusion.

As many have mentioned, it is not fair for guests to have extensive information about hosts while we are prohibited from even seeing who will be coming into our homes.  It is a security issue!

I have enjoyed guesting and hosting through airbnb and have recommended it in glowing terms to anyone who would listen.  Through several experiences I felt that airbnb had my back, but I have never signed on for instant booking and feel it is now being forced upon hosts. Please reverse this decision!

Peggy in SC

@Airbnb

Hi Lizzie, 

I have been following this thread, but may have missed your replies regarding any updates on this issue. I haven’t seen anything from admin either. Are you sure they are aware and are listening to our concerns? (Just sarcasm here.) Please give us an update. As of today there have been over 53,000 views of this thread. New people are joining every day and the silence from Airbnb on this issue is very disheartening. 

Thanks,

Debbie 

Hi Lizzie, 

I haven’t seen any replies from @Airbnb  regarding the guest profile picture policy. I know you said that they were listening, but I’m hoping there is some discussion regarding a reversal of this policy. I’m sure there are level headed hosts who would be happy to be part of the discussion. The lack of response from management is very frustrating. I don’t think this thread will dry up and go away, so some acknowledgment of the many concerned voices would be much appreciated. I apologize if there has been a reply that I missed. Please direct me to your the reply if I missed it. 

Thanks, 

Debbie

Lets please add to that penalizing hosts by making us pay the guest booking fees...which has already rolled out in some places.

@Susan0  in Oregon. 

"What situations are you referring, to when you mention hosts being required to pay the guest booking fees?"

Can you please upload information on this, or provide a link to information?

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

Almost a thousand furious comments on this thread - and hundreds more on various other threads - but history has proven that hosts might as well be howling at the moon as hoping for any sort of satisfactory outcome by posting here in Airbnb's own Community Centre. 

 

Now if 1000 hosts were instead publicly venting their fury about this policy all over Airbnb's Twitter and FB feeds on a daily basis, in a concerted effort to have their collective voices heard, then there might be some  hope of people power affecting positive change. 

I took action when this thread began. My listings are no longer available. Actions are louder than words.