@Farah1
yes, this is true, but since you are not privy to that information prior to accepting, you don't actually know if there is a pic/review/etc. in their profile until you take the plunge.
in my particular case, (bare with me;), the last few guests A, B, C, D & E 😉 i have received inquiries from have all recently signed up, and no further profile info was available. suspicous? a few of them had names that could have been male or female and were vague in their inquiry eg. "hi, coming to NYC with a friend and wondering if your place is avail?" again, suspicious? many of them were inquiring about staying in our home within the next week or so. more suspiciousness? most of them were very polite and agreeable when replying to my effort in communicating, but never really answered my question(s) eg. "hi, i see you're new to Abnb. since i often rely on reviews, wondering if you can tell me a bit about yourself and the guest you'll be traveling with. will you be needing one or two beds?" "of course. what would you like to know. one bed is fine." am i just being overly suspicious?
so, with the most recent request, i decided to accept with all its vagueness, and see how it goes. once i did accept, Kris (?) didn't have a profile pic on his/her account or any other info, as he just signed up. i had to call Abnb for the third time this week. without much help from them, i asked Kris to kindly post a pic. he did and hope that it is a real photo.
as for the double standard, i absolutely agree, and there is definitely an argument there to be made with Abnb. the only real conclusion i have since come up with is this: i am looking into other homesharing sites like VRBO, Oasis and onefinestay, and then realized, they don't have profile pics of potential guests either. so maybe it is Abnb's sudden change without notice that is disturbing us as hosts, on principle alone. i'm still not sure how i feel about continuing with them with these changes, as i feel it is going to open up doors to problems i am not interested in being a part of. i also feel as though they are trying to push for Instant Book and, while it sounds ideal, it just doesn't work for us. while i understand their interest is to prevent discrimination under any circumstances, you can't replace preventing possible discrimination with creating possible risk to homeowners.
we are super hosts with over 155 reviews and a 4.9 overall rating in over six years with Abnb. we have welcomed guests from all over the world and have had only one or two less than stellar experiences, and thankfully none that were catastrophic. i'd like to maintain that status:)