Guest uploading a silhouette as their profile photo

[Anna11949]

Hi everyone, 

So I have been hosting for a while and I’ve never had this issue. Recently I put the booking setting so my guests have to upload a profile photo prior to booking. It doesn’t specifically say in my guest rules that I require a profile photo however. I thought it was assumed that someone would have to have a profile photo in order to book.

But I had a recent incident where a guest uploaded a gray and white silhouette stock image that they found on Google as their profile photo. 

I reached out to the guest to ask them to upload a profile photo to their account and haven’t heard a response. She has booked a second stay with us so I know that she is seen the message. I again have asked for a profile photo and she has neglected to respond. 

I reached out to Airbnb I was told that I am welcome to cancel the reservation but I would be penalized. Anybody had this issue before? If so what was your resolution? Any suggestions?

Thank you so much for any help you can give me. 

[Annie1372]

@Anna11949 

 I have read the kind of situation many time here, on the CC

If you have instant booking, you can cancel 3X/year without cancellation fees if you feel uneasy or unsafe with that futur guest.

but do that cancellation through the customer service.

if you are not in instant booking and you agree the booking of that host, knowing their picture profile, yes you will be charged a penalty 

[Helen744]

@Annie1372 This is common . Once you have a phone number ask for id and a selfie in real time . This can then let you see pretty quickly who is travelling . If it is in your rules as ,no avatars or obsured faces , no sunglasses and  a clear id pics , then Airbnb takes care of it for you . I see heaps of people having blanked out faces in reviews so I think it is common enough for people to think it is okay. Request the details again and state that you are uncomfortable not knowing who is in your home and that Airbnb , does not share ids with you . There is no need to cancel until you have done these things . H

[Gwen386]

Since she booked a second stay, did you accept the first stay without a profile picture? If you’re uncomfortable with this guest, just decline and block so she can’t book again.