@Sarah977 @Susan17
Sarah,
Sorry, I'm still not convinced by your arguments.
Firstly, IB has been prevalent for about 4 years and there is no obligation to subscribe to it.
Hosts are still perfectly entitled to do their own vetting and insist on level of verification acceptable to them, so satisfy themselves as to the Guests they wish to take. Moreover, Hosts can still demand to see passport of similar ID on arrival.
For this reason my conversion rate has remained remarkably consistent with very few problems. I'm in 7th year of hosting and fielded 1,300 enquiries with a little over 450 bookings. That's less 35% conversion rate. Of the remainder about 50 - 50 is my choice not to host, and other half chose to book elsewhere. (I often then check how those who contacted me got on, and most times without problems, suggesting I dodged just a few bad guests.) -- Clearly I couldn't function as an IB host with these self-imposed strictures.
Secondly, I used to insist on full verification. Ironically, it was Susan whose railings against the shortcomings of Jumio (the 3rd Party Company used for verification) that influenced me not to rely on this process; and I dropped it when I gained confidence in my own judgement and vetting procedures. Many times since I've taken Guests with the most basic details, phone & email, and without even requesting to see ID on arrival. -- Though I believe this way of doing things can only reliably work for a live-in host.
Lastly, I don't believe we get a true or meaningful sample of Hosts on CC. This is based on my recollection of a vibrant London Host Community Hub which was sadly extinguished in favour of the current format. Following, only a small fraction of contributors continued posting on CC. Yet I can see from saved links that many of these London Hosts are still operating and continuing to function perfectly fine. Moreover, as I concentrate my research on my neighbourhood in London, not a single one amongst dozens if not hundreds participates on CC.
All in all there are 80,000 listings in London. I don't know how many thousands of hosts, but evidently well under 10% ever make any kind of comment on CC. Consequently, I would adduce it as a more reliable figure of the global picture that we see on CC.