@David126 :
Thanks for posting this!! I also heard it on NPR this afternoon, all these pro-active things Airbnb will install to deal with discrimination...I am growing more suspicious by the minute:
Airbnb grew way too fast from facilitating people who were looking for a cheap crash pad to evolving into this 5 star lodging experience, just at a cheaper price than hotels or resorts. They need us hosts to be the mules...so hosts get scrutinized, penalized, more rules/restrictions by the minute to deal with, etc... - and it is all about courting and pleasing the guests! they are the ones to bring in the money, so they have to be catered to.....
I am alarmed to now hear things, all under the politically correct umbrella of fighting discrimination, like " there will be an open door policy at Airbnb as of 10/1 this year", and then, as of 11/1 this year|: "no matter who you are, you should be able to belong to the Airbnb community". That is downright scary!! So us hosts, letting people into our private homes, will have less and less to say about who we host, sooner than later we all will be forced to accept the instant booking, Airbnb expressed it in such flowery terms as, " the instant booking allows hosts to offer their place without prior approval". Excuse me, is this " allow me" - or force me??
Yes, there are some hosts on Airbnb who get side tracked by totally unimportant, minor things they should just handle instead of crying wolf, but the essence is : Airbnb needs us hosts! We should be treated with the same deference and respect guests enjoy.
Airbnb is well on its way to become the booking.com for private places, by forcing us hosts to act like hotel/motels, which clearly, we are not! That is the elementary difference that needs to be respected and protected.
As hosts we should give up being so proud of being super hosts, or participating in that stupid race for 5 star reviews, it's all a gimmick to keep us in line!
I am not a happy camper observing these latest developments.