I love this forum picture

[Donald28]

A presumably single white woman smiling while showing a black male stranger into her high end (million dollar?) suburban home. She's not even opening just the 1 heavy fancy wood door, she's got BOTH doors w-i-d-e open to show she is REALLY ok with this. Does anyone else chuckle at this besides me? Where does airbnb get these pics? They must stage them.  

"Oh hi, come this way into my multi million dollar suburban mansion. You can tell by the $10k doors that this isn't just an average middle income house. You needed a room for the night for $69 right? I know you asked for a discount but $69 is my lowest rate. The local $109 budget motel was too expensive for you I see. Come this way and I will show you to our $69/nite guest room. The door knob costs more than your reservation so please respect my home. I'm sure you've read all of our rules and won't break any of them. Ok great! Sleep well. I know I will!" 

[Sarah977]

@Mark116 Then why mention the races of the guests, or even say "a presumably single..." . I'm quite sure that couples who host sometimes have one or the other spouse greet the guests depending on who is available at the time.

[Huma0]

@Mark116

True, but then why bring race and gender into it?

[Donald28]

YES THIS EXACTLY! Another person GETS IT! 

These unrealistic, staged, happy go lucky, all is good with the world, photos that airbnb uses are just stupid. 

[Ann72]

@Donald28  I don't understand what you don't understand about advertising.  You have mentioned you don't go anywhere much.  Are you very sheltered from outside influences such as television ads, billboards, and the like?  Would you rather have unattractive unhappy people in these stock photos used for illustration?  A quarreling family arriving at an ugly house only to find the door locked and no host to let them in?

And your comments below, about Atlanta?  Not only parochial - but still racist!  It is prejudicial to use one truth to make vast generalizations.  

[Debra300]

I live in a town just 7 miles from where Donald is located.  The Atlanta metro area is comprised of a large population of transplants from around the US and other countries.  Although I've not personally encountered any blatant racism while living here, I don't think it occurs any more frequently than in my home town in the San Francisco Bay Area.  A place that is touted for its liberalism and inclusiveness.  Unfortunately, there are racists, misogynists, bigots and willful idiots everywhere.  

The picture is just a generic reflection of what the host-guest interaction should be.

Ironically, since flights from the US to St. Lucia resumed a couple of weeks ago, the locals now view white people with suspicion and trepidation, because as they say, "Tings hot up dere" in reference to COVID-19.

[Donald28]

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@Debra300 wrote:

The picture is just a generic reflection of what the host-guest interaction should be.

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Agreed. This is what airbnb wants people to think... this SHOULD BE how airbnb works. But if you know atlanta (or any rich enclave of any city), this white woman in the mansion lives in buckhead. She's not renting a room in her mansion out to anyone and she's certainly not throwing BOTH doors wide open to let the guy in. If you know atlanta and the crime statistics, the race of the two people make this scenario even more unlikely.  Black gang members have been targeting rich white folks in buckhead for years. It's in the news every single day. Why not have the lady in this staged picture be black and the male guest white? I'll tell you why, airbnb is trying allay hosts fears. Black women aren't afraid of renting to anyone. White women are. They watch the news too. Let's be real. It's not racist to tell the truth. 

[Donald28]

EXACTLY THIS!!! THANK YOU FOR GETTING IT. In atlanta what is depicted in that photo is a hugely unlikely scenario. Rich, single (or at least alone) middle aged white women living in Buckhead (the richest area with million dollar homes as shown in this pic) do no swing open both doors (who opens both doors to come and go?) to their million dollar mansion for any male... black or white or yellow or red. Airbnb tries to paint a picture with these unrealistic staged photos and it makes me cringe and laugh at the same time. 

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

Who knows unless the mysterious @Donald28 graces us with clarification. I am just guessing here and trying to read between the lines.

By the way, I inadvertently modelled for some Airbnb marketing shots. Who knows what they used them for, but that’s a whole other story.

[Ann72]

@Huma0 @Sarah977 @Kath9 @Fred13 @Debra300 @Mark116 

In his first sentence, @Donald28 makes certain assumptions that are racist and misogynist, casting the photo as depicting a helpless white female about to be set upon by a predatory black male.  He then backpedals by claiming the photo makes him laugh.  Then makes further assumptions about the nightly price.  From there further assumptions about the two people in the picture:  the woman's cluelessness at charging only $69 a night (because she's a woman and must not have a head for business), the man's inability to pay more than $69 a night (because he's a man of color).  It's all rather confused and alternately inflammatory and silly.

Minus the racism and misogyny, it's interesting to analyze the marketing photos (yes, @Donald28, of course they're staged) to see what messages Airbnb is sending out about its brand.  Here they're showing one person welcoming another with, yes, the doors wide open to stress the point of welcome.  They're both fairly normal looking probably middle class people.  She is opening her home to what appears to be a business traveler.  She is dressed in a vaguely San Francisco bougie-boho manner and he in what someone who works in tech or a creative start-up might wear for work.  Obviously the photo would have little appeal if it were set at the entrance to a place that wasn't beautiful.

What do you all think - is it a good message about the brand, or a limited message about the brand?

[Debra300]

@Ann72,

I think it's a good picture.  Like I said, the woman looks soooo happy that she finally has someone showing up, and did not cancel.  Now I can have this hair-don't changed into a do! He appears to be grateful that the place isn't a dump, and the woman has a welcoming manner.  If I were to take a guess at their conversation, he just asked how's the wifi, and she's smiling while pointing out that there's a mesh network at the house.  Meanwhile, on the inside she's thinking, "He looks like someone I know, but I just can't put my finger on it.".  Hint....look at some CSI: NY re-runs.

[Ann72]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I think you need to write an episode of CSI: Airbnb!

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  I've never really felt one way or another about that photo, except at some point I wondered if it was actually Lizzie and Quincy who posed for the shot, never having met either of them :-).

I find her hairdo and dress somewhat incongruous with the house entrance- she just doesn't look like she'd live in a place like that, she looks like she'd live somewhere less suburban. (and her "style" seems a bit frumpy for her age) It never registered to me as a "beautiful house"- I can't make any inferences just by the shot of the front door looking out. It just looks cookie cutter and bland to me. If the photo depicted an entrance that was more unique, I think it might have more appeal.

As far as showing an interaction between a host and guest on arrival, I think the marketing message is fine. She looks relaxed and warm and friendly, he looks like someone who has just arrived somewhere, a bit road-weary, but happy to be at his destination and attentive to what the host is saying.

@Debra300  Speaking of "he looks like someone I can't place", there's a photo on the main page of the Airbnb site for Experiences- a cooking experience, a person with pink hair of ambiguous sex who looks just like Liberace to me.

[Quincy]

You made me chuckle here @Sarah977! It's not us 😆

[Kath9]

@Ann72 to me the photo suggests inclusivity - male/female and black/white - which is what Airbnb is ostensibly about. Welcoming people of all genders, colours and cultures into our homes.

[Quincy]

Hello @Donald28, you're more than welcome to comment on pictures and content within the forum or elsewhere on Airbnb, however, if comments dissolve into racism or discrimination of any kind then this will not be tolerated.

I can see that there has been some debate regarding the photo. However, as all the others here have mentioned, I am also wondering what you're trying to say here?

It would be great if you could clarify. 

Thanks,

Quincy