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.

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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.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Airbnb - so we complain and provide points of why profile photos are important to us and Airbnb simply reiterates the policy and available controls (which, btw, still require hosts to have to repeatedly ask for photos of a guest's FACE  (not a far-away photo of their entire body, or a group, or blurry, or with their hair, sunglasses, or hat covering half their face) and you don't have enough CS personnel to help us resolve this so the burden is STILL on us.  You haven't listened to us at all.

As a reminder, Airbnb’s nondiscrimination policy prohibits only hosts  from making booking decisions or canceling reservations based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. What about prohibiting guests from doing the same?  How are you tracking and assessing a guest's discrimination of never staying with an woman of color? What about a transgendered individual?  How about a gay couple?  Because everything we do on Airbnb is people-based - reviews attach to hosts, properties attach to specific hosts, status is host-based, and, like it or not, guests sometimes choose because of the host profile picture that pops up before they book.  Why can't hosts hid their pictures or put up sunsets or their dogs to protect them from targeted and unwanted guest stays? Why is it okay to allow discrimination by the guest?

You STILL have not answered this basic question. 

[Jenny672]

I am beyond annoyed! Especially as a female hosting I have no words. When looking at a picture you can always get a sense of if someone is a good fit. So as a host we put our pictures out onto the internet so that the guests can get an idea who he's dealing with but you don't allow us now to see who we would be dealing with.  Makes me incredibly angry! We open up our homes to let people sleep in our private space in the room next to our bed. You obviously have forgotten that this is not a hotel that we are running but our private intimate spaces! I am incredibly appalled by this. 

[Peta7]

@Alice0 and Jeff - Wish we had many more thumbs up for your contribution

[Peta7]

We have now come to realize that the once highly revered Airbnb platform has been permanently replaced with this all new infamous platform and we will simply all have to ‘adapt or die’.
We have consequently implemented our very own policy shift to keep up with this trend of transformation and aim at achieving more control of OUR listings by relinquishing total loyalty to any one booking platform. The only reason Airbnb was considerd platform of choice was the then availability of profile photos.
The following corresponding measures were instated to achieve this goal; firstly, we removed Instant reservations, shortened our max stay, pushed our prices up and used every other available method of slowing our demanding City listings down and then plan on again utilizing alternative platforms, also without availability of profile photos, to increase our booking rate and obviously the resulting revenue derived from OUR listings.
The recent Airbnb policy shift intended on benefiting guests only is thereby countered with our very own shift away from loyalty and utilizing others with tried and tested increased result in overall Booking rate already leading to our complete contentment, after all business is business.

[Kelly873]

Well done!  Will be looking into something similar. 

[Soren9]

I have read so many of your posts and share the same concerns about this policy. But I fear that these concerns will fall upon deaf ears until some unfortunate single woman is raped or beaten by a guest.

What has become clear to me in 6 years of hosting, with over 300 guest bookings (or about 1000 people who have stayed in my listings), is that airbnb consistently assumes the worst of its hosts. They do not respect us for providing the most critical component upon which their business depends. This policy is just the latest example.

With this policy designed for the lowest common denominator, Airbnb is sending a clear message that it assumes its hosts to be ethnocentric, racist, sexist and ageist bigots whose judgement can not be trusted to ensure their own comfort or safety in sharing their homes with strangers who are required to provide only barebones information about themselves.

I have begun the process of switching to other alternative platforms for this same purpose. I have never used another platform but am now going to do my best to do as much of my hosting as possible elsewhere.

[Kelly873]

I occasionally list my entire home - which is an upscale beach home - capacity for 6 in LOs Angeles. I took it down after some annoyances last Fall. A few months ago, I began getting requests from Airbnb to please re-I state my listing & they would give me a guaranteed $1700 if I would only book 3 times in the next 3 months.  Los Angeles County is changing the rules as of Nov 1st & they are cutting out investor-owned properties. They will all have to be primary residences. Cities within LA have already outlawed Airbnb such as Beverly Hills, West Hollywood & a few others have outlawed Airbnb entirely.  I put my profile back at 1 am & with 6 hours I had multiple booking requests - there is a massive shortage!  I charge $225/night & am booked most of the month. I have had a lot of new request with no photo no profile & will no longer accept them sine the last 29-somethings rolled up, partied for 2 nights,  made a mess & actually broke one of the beds!!  Damage was $650 in total. Airbnb has Still not refunded me. We were put into a frantic rush to resolve for next party of 6 coming from out is state I didn’t want to cancel on.  I have noticed that after I complained of damage & submitted for a refund - which they are dragging out - my listing which was #3 in my town has dropped.  **bleep** Airbnb. For all the reasons mentioned above & elsewhere - they are about to go down like the Titanic!! 

[Peta7]

@ Soren We are hosts in Johannesburg and had an incident here during last year just prior to policy shift where a local Johannesburg guest with a fake profile assaulted and seriously injured @Peta0 being an elderly female host leaving her with no recourse available due to the untraceability of the guest.

Our case obviously did not impact in any way on the platform decision makers who then went ahead and obscured these fake profiles believed to be quite common on the platform and doing so without any consideration for the host's safety and from there our implimentation of a Register and keeping of ID copies on file as per SA Immigration law requirements similar to many other countries.

So we believe not even murder or rape of a host will impact enough on the platform owners to revert back to the old policy's, us hosts will just have to accept the policy shift and move on.

We have also subseqauntly listed on a competitor platform like many others on this forum and realy enjoy their host forum free of moans and groans from disgruntled hosts and from the aparent many happy hosts contributing on the forum believe that Airbnb did not just shoot themselves in the foot this time but actually shot their foot right off.

[Susan1028]

@Peta0Thank you.

I'm so saddened by this story and others like it.

Your experience matches that of other hosts I've connected with who've diversified thier marketing to reduce stress and boost business.

My heart goes out to the host you mentioned and thier family, all of whom must have been through hell in addition to the insulting discrimination of being unsupported by airbnb as the perpetrator got away becuase of their inability to meet basic legal guidelines for your area.  There have also been many issues in the US with assaults, stalking, theft, and other crimes by airbnb guests, resulting in negative press and potential for lawsuits in addition to the omnipresent political opposition against airbnb surrounding the lack of stable long term housing in many markets due to the massive turnovers to short-term airbnb hosting.

We should not have to fight for our safety and security and comply with local laws based on lack of cooperation by airbnb, and fight to receive bookings and run our businesses as we wish.  Airbnb is a booking platform, not a property owner or regulatory entity, and it has disrespected many. If airbnb can't or is not willing to keep up with the jurisdictional responsibilities in areas they book for, or respect the local laws, they should not offer coverage there...but they want the commissions.

The dynnamics on this platform have become "bass ackwards" and as narcissistic as many political regimes with boundary issues and gaslighting propaganda centered around self-serving profit-based control.

Air bnb is a booking platform, a middle man, not a property owner.  They profit from our business without shouldering the overhead, legal, and liability issues we do, so what business do they have trying to dictate to us how to run ours?

The new airbnb policies conveniently absolve airbnb of liability, are inappropritaely invasive, and overtly discriminatory against independent hosts and guests in dangerous ways that beg us to ask if it's worth risking our health, safety, and everything we've worked for...for a platform that isn't even willing to meet  basic industry operational standards.

Airbnb has blended themselves into the list of booking platforms available and have cut themselves off from the very originality of the caring/sharing economy that made them special and when safety is traded for fa $10 commission, it's well past time to move on and for the goverments to take a closer look at enforcing regulations, responsibility for liability, penatlies, and the ability to do business with this platform just like the others.

[Samantha372]

Hi All, Showing profile photo always building trust and create conducive environment. If it is descriminate for some then another side it is descriminations for hosts but not knowing who comes. But another thing of this story is profile photoes not always updated. Mostly young looking old photoes. We can only know male por female. Im I correct? Since Airbnb is a responsible site, it is better always share basic details of hosts and gusts as a trust building grounds. 

[Suzanne13]

I'm not comfortable with this change. I'd liek to see who's booking. Guests are staying in my home. I helps when I can see their faces when they request to book. Oddly, sometimes I can and sometimes I can't, so it's not consistent.

I hope Airbnb reconsiders for the sake of the hosts. Without us there would be no Airbnb. We need to ensure that we're safe. There is no reason someone should be concerned about showing their face unless they have something to hide.

[Thomas983]

I have removed my own photo and turned off instant booking. I am still receiving plenty of booking requests. So I would encourage other hosts to do the same until Airbnb change this policy.

On the other hand I am also declining more and more bookings, because there's so many guests who doesn't bother to write anything about themselves, or have reviews that make enough sense. It is hard to make an impression of the person, and as soon as your gut feeling says "nope", it's hard to gain trust, and easier to decline than accept.

In cases where information is sparse, photos help to give an impression of the guest.

I really do not care what my guests look like, and I have hosted people from all over the world. It is all about how they represents themselves. If they do not want to show their face I simply find it hard to trust them. 

After accepting bookings I have also several times experienced that the guest is hiding (!) their face in the photo. If I had seen the photo before making the desition to accept or decline, I would have declined.

Yesterday I cancelled a confirmed booking within minutes because she was hiding her face behind some weird objects, and all photos I found in social media was party pictures. Her one (1) review also turned out to not be hers, but from a group booking, booked by a person not accompanying her on this trip. She also changed details in her profile just AFTER I accepted the booking, for instance occupation from "working" to "student". I felt I had zero control.

Airbnb refused to revoke the penalties that occured when I cancelled, and these 3 nights are still blocked from my calendar. So be careful who you accept.

[Shelley6]

I don’t think guests actually read anything about my listing... they are expecting an anonymous experience. I don’t know for sure, but my impression is that Air BnB no longer really wants/needs the private home hosts where we meet the guests and welcome them personally.

Sad, really.

[Kelly873]

No. I don’t think they do. They have really deviated from their beginnings. I rent my whole home out & it is just as scary for me. Can’t see their profiles, They all want self check-in & I find out later from neighbors or what gets left behind who really was in the house. In past  it’s worked out ok. Very clean, respectful guests. The last 2 times, utter slobs & damage both times. ??!!  After I fulfill my commitments, I will likely take it down or find another platform. Very disappointing!!

😞 

[Henri16]

Hello 

Now I read a lot of the comments regarding the new policy and there are many arguments I agree with and could maybe add a few myself but this is getting to onerous right now.

Also with the climate that AIRBNB has created in my city and around the world where they do come across as a corporate slouth not willing to pay its fair share of taxes and their pseudo "peoples aproach" which definetely has been shown to be just a smoke screen and is best shown by their lack of responsiveness to have a fair corporate stewardship IE pay taxes on your earnings in the countries you earn them (As supposed to collecting a tax from the Guests and forwarding it to the Goverment and reminding me that I have to pay taxes on my earnings , while you yourself  are not adding into the coffers.except the lip service you offer)

Anyhow

I sort of had it with AIRBNB I wrote a few times to AIRBNB telling them about my objection to their new policy of no profile photos and giving a simple solution. Yet did not have the courtesy of a reply.

LET THE GUEST DECIDE IF HE WANTS HIS PICTURE AND  A COMPREHENSIVE PROFILE VISIBLE, LET THE HOST DECIDE WHETHER HE ACCEPTS A GUEST WITH NO PROFILE OR PICTURE.

There will be Guests who do not want their picture posted which is OK, they should then know that there are Hosts who will not accept them.  And there will be hosts who do not mind receiving Guests with no Picture or a comprehensive profile or review. 

And then there is the Guest who does not mind having their picture posted and having a comprehensive profile knowing full well that it is just common courtesy and that they will have access to Hosts who will give them a preference.

Then tell the guests with no picture , same as you "harrass" hosts all the time, that if we had instand booking turned on , or accept Guests with no Profile or who have no Id no Guest reviews etc  that if they had all that they had more Bookings or more choice in places to stay.

After all would any guest want to stay in my place if all they knew was that there are two beds and a Bathroom and once they booked they get to see the pictures of my place?

As for me as a Guest I would rather not be accepted by a Host who "discriminates" against  "Old Miserable farts like me" than show up at his door step and get the reception he has in store for guys like me.

I for one have so far refused quite a few Guests due to the new policy, after explaining to them why they where refused. Most did not know that their profile picture was blocked and asked to know how to turn it on. Some where quite clear that they did not mind having their picture posted and see it as a common courtesy to be introduced with a comprehensive profile description and a picture.

The problem is that AIRBNB has a bunch of "smart kids" working there devising algorhythms and never leaving their Computer screens

The shortcoming of academic education is that it is science-based and one assumes that science is capable of accurately grasping and describing all the important things of reality and practice. Especially in the field of computerscience and technology. And unfortunately that is not the case. Science can not describe everything completely and objectively by far. Not all conditions always follow exact rules. The advantage of the user (Us the Host and the Guest) is that we have a solid knowledge and the experience of these imponderables - unlike many engineers.

So do not let your businessl be run only by those smart kids who try to justifie their existance by coming constantly up with new algorhythm and fancy programs which only remove you more from the real needs of reality and create unreasonable strains and expectations.

Then next thing AIRBNB start becomming more reasonable by funneling some of your profits into the host countries you are in. Cause one of those days maybe a  new start up will pop up who wants to be part of the society they live in by sharing their wealth they are earning thus participating in true development.

Too bad that this will be again ignored by AIRBNB making this another futile attempt of making constructive criticism.

Will I be  ignored ? Have I insulted some smart kid and and will be put into the negative algorhythm or maybe even be canceled from your platform

Ahh well maybe time to move on 

Cheers to all my fellow hosts and greetings to all my wonderfull guests I had the priviledge to host since 2011

Does anyone from AirBNB actaully read these?  Or are we all screaming into the wind?