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.

[Николай10]

Oad, this is the matter of time. Now 300 then 3000000...This topic chain just got lost between many other topics of Airbnb community news flow. Iam personally have to dig deep many submenues before find this topic.  Iam sure this hiding done deliberately...

[Oad0]

but..... it is 300 with 2 zero’s....

the real issue here - no viable competition. And as the old adage goes: if you cannot fight then - join them!

[Susan17]

@Oad, 

.....is that you, Brian?? 🤣

[Luca511]

There will be a long term impact on the business. I have no doubt. Acceptance rate comes with trust and this policy proposes the exact opposite. 

[Susan17]

Lol! Nice try, but that article is 2 years old @Oad0, A lot  has changed since then, and hosts are happily defecting to competitor sites in droves now - and thriving there. 

And as you're such an avid Airbnb cheerleader, is there any particular reason why you have no listings, no verifications, no location and no identifiable pic on your profile? Why hide yourself if you're such a big fan? 

[Tina474]

yes I think it is important to see who is staying in my home.

[Lou93]

-Guest picture new policy-
I was excited to go back to my hosting activities but don't understand the new guest photo policy, in fact I disagree with the policy and I'm very disappointed with it. I used to use instant booking and don't understand the discrimination approach since all bookings are instantly confirmed.

I won't put my apartment at risk by having some 3rd party booking since it's not covered by the Airbnb host guarantee, and with no photo I won't be able to verify if the guest is the owner of the account or is just using someone else's account. I already had a fraud case, and I'm happy so share the reservation number airbnb team if necessary. Guests profile photos are important to avoid suspicious activities. I'm therefore suspending my listing.

[Bonnie15]

I am also suspending my listing for the rest of the year, and will consider removing it altogether unless Airbnb changes this policy. Airbnb is requiring less and less verification from guests, and the trust/community model that made me sign up to AIrbnb seems to have been discarded in favor of a model that no longer protects hosts or gives consideration to their legitimate needs for trust and security - photos no longer available, verified IDs only for those who do instant reservations, etc. We need to have an idea of who shows up at our door and know who we are allowing into our homes. We are not hotels.

[Raphaela4]

Bonnie, I agree totally. I blocked this week to have time to think what I am going to do but chapeau for you-blocking a year!

I checked with my local authority in the UK what I could do. They said as a B&B I would not have to collect data, ID etc. from my guests but I could do so. The adviser said whatever I wanted/needed I could ask for and set the rules for letting them stay at my house.

I will from now on ask every guest to fill in a booking form with a passport no. or driving license no. to fill in. This doesn't change the photo dilemma but it is a start.....hopefully I come up with other suggestions during my week off.

[Chanden0]

I agree with a comfort level is seeing a photo of guest so that I know who to expect at the door.  

[JJ48]

I want to validate all of the concerns posted here and have been following the discussion and thinking a lot about it.  Due to using Instant Book quite a lot, this new photo policy has not impacted me in a practical way so much yet.  Also, I do keep my prices a little higher as it seems to deter a certain amount of nonsense (partiers and such) bookings - I already had this sense (and good evidence as well with friends with a similar listing who often lower their prices a lot in the slow times and get their worst guests then) and wil certainly stick to the higher prices more now.  That itself seems like a lose-lose because I hadn't decided completely about it until this photo thing.   I don't really believe that someone's photo is giving me so much information to book them or not (I have had some lovely flowers and dog faces) but I do give people (e.g. new users) credit for uploading one (the more appropriate the better) as it implies their sincerity in being part of the airbnb community and that says quite a lot about their character.  My biggest concerns at this point are two things.  1.  People often don't sound their best when writing that initial inquiry.  They can sound a variety of awkward (rude, aggressive, reclusive, apathetic, needy, entitled and even unhinged at times) but their profile picture will often bridge the gap - e.g. it's a nice normal person looking at the camera without any of the strange attitudes expressed in their awkward inquiry.  Often the photo shows them doing something regular like eating at a restaurant or enjoying the beach and it reminds me that people often sound awkward when writing a stranger and then I can start a conversation with them, forgiving and not judging so much on the original awkward inquiry, so to extend my virtual hand to them and create a more comfortable conversation.  Their second message is always much more pleasant and it leads to booking them and ultimately happy and great guests.  But without the photo, I may have passed over some real gems of guests (and new airbnb fans) due to the really awful first messages they sent (especially as a new host).  I will miss having the photo as a legitimate piece of the puzzle.  I believe the photos are helping guests get booked far more often then they are causing discrimination. I too believe that ABB could legitimately track discrimination through software and prevent it more effectively that way and that this photo thing is just for show.  Any software that can estimate the "% of guests that have already booked that are likely to book" a particular Wednesday 4 months into the future could certainly root out the bigots.   And 2.  Though I have created a nice space with comfortable amenities and am lucky to have a great location I feel confident that it's my customer service that people are truly responding to.  And that service begins with the very first message of an inquiry or request.  And that is because I have some idea who I am talking to when I first respond to them.  It's not foolproof but it helps a whole lot.  Late 20s in a vintage dress gets a little different "sales pitch" for my place, my neighborhood and my city than late 60s in a yoga outfit.  I need to be able to tell people why my place is great for them and their picture helps me do that.  The conversation tells me if they are right for me and I still have that, but the guests are going to lose out on 1. benefit of the doubt because of their photo looking more normal then their initial communication and 2.  A (at least attempted) personalization of information regarding my accommodations.  It bums me out because the customer service is where I excell and is, not coincidentally, my favorite part.  I feel like I'm losing a part of the tool set and am just plain old disappointed because I was having a good time with it and so were my guests.  

[Peta7]

Announcing the death of the once championed Airbnb "Instant reservations":

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

Obviously a decision maker within Airbnb have no idea on what changes to bring about to earn her exorbatant salary and are frantically searching competitor platforms like Booking.com for "NEW" ideas, problem is on these platforms there are only 15 % max of all reservations that materialize and most of these guests that do arrive are turned away at the gate.

Perhaps someone should advise this Airbnb staff member bringing about these unessessary changes that we, as many other hosts, have listed on Airbnb instead of Booking .com for many obvious reasons now all being done away with.

We definitly foresee the death of Instant reservation with this bad call from Airbnb staff and will definitly turn this feature off on our listings with emmediate effect.

We will also from now on be necessitated to request guest's ID documents as per South African law requirements during the booking process and we quote:

"Extracts from the Immigration Act and Regulations Section 40

Keeping of registers of lodgers by certain persons

(1) The person in charge of any premises, whether furnished or unfurnished, where lodging or sleeping accommodation is provided for payment or reward shall, if those premises fall within a prescribed class, in the prescribed manner keep a register of all persons who are provided with lodging or sleeping accommodation thereon, and every such person shall sign the register and furnish therein the prescribed particulars regarding himself or herself.

Regulation 36

Keeping of registers of lodgers by certain persons

36. (1) The classes of premises contemplated in section 40(1) of the Act are-

(a) hotels and motels;
(b) boarding houses and lodges;
(c) guest houses; and
(d) apartment buildings.

In light of the above and that there is no definition in the Act of “persons”, the interpretation is that it extends to all.
 
ASATA have been approached – and have responded positively - to assist us in informing guests at the time of booking that they will be required to provide positive ID when checking into any accommodation establishment and that a copy of the ID document will be taken by the hotel for purposes of this legislation. There has naturally been a push-back from the public, but as you can see from Section 40(1), both parties (establishment and guest) can be penalised for non-compliance.
 
The requirement for positive ID is already being imposed by the airlines, car rental companies, booking agents, ticketing agents etc. Only in our case, the legislation stipulates that we have to keep a copy of the ID.
 
As the industry, we need to show a united front in enforcing this legislation and to ensure that the requirement of taking a copy of a valid identification document is uniformly applied throughout."

This law is quite clear and we will take this up with Airbnb to formulate procedure in obtaining ID documents instead of profile photos during the reservation process for us to lawfully be able to accept a reservation request.

[Peta7]

Please do sign the aplicable petition if the profile photo debacle is causing concern:

https://www.change.org/p/brian-chesky-equal-rights-for-hosts-we-want-to-see-the-profile-pictures-of-...

[Johnny-and-Mark0]

Done.

[Raphaela4]

Done as well but checked just now, there are only 17 signatures so far!!? ?

Please sign the petition.....