guest photos-I want to see them during the booking process!!

[Jean621]

I very much dislike AirBnB's new policy of NOT showing hosts the guest photo before plans are finalized.  People are staying in my home and one time someone that sounded a bit sketchy, had no recommendations, had a baby photo instead of the adult coming to visit my one and only room that I rent.  That was enough to tip me off that the guest was likely hiding something.  I had another potential guest that looked like a meth head and was very abrupt in her communication with me and very so so or non descript recommendations.  The photo was good back up to what I was guessing about her as a good fit.  I rent to all genders, gender preferences, races, nationalities but there is some quality of information gained with the photo. PLEASE AirBnB, I want to see guest photos when they enquire, not after it's too late and I've already accepted a booking. 

[Gordon0]

Although this topic has been done to death, @Jean621, I'm not sure it's viable for Airbnb to have two sets of rules; one for nice, all-welcoming non-racist hosts like you, and the other for the nasty types. Ask a black person what their acceptance rate is when trying to book a place and you'll have the answer as to why Airbnb has gone this route.

[Alon1]

@Gordon0 @Jean621 

Gordon,

I trust it didn't escape your attention that in the process of being 'done to death', some black persons have pointed out that they'd rather their photos were visible to the 'nasty types', because they wouldn't want to be hosted by them anyway.

By the same token some Hosts have reacted to the new policy by hiding their profile photo.

I would never do that, for the same reason,that if any prospective guest didn't like my photo or biog

they'd chose not to even contact me.

In sum, seems to me to save a lot of angst both ways.

[Gordon0]

I'm not sure that's the answer either, @Alon1, as it essentially says racism is OK on the platform as long as we choose to ignore it. However, while at the recent London Airbnb get-together, a (black) guy there went some way to explain how many times he'd be turned down for no good reason and how it made him feel.

And surely, a crazy racist nut is a) likely to cancel a reservation from a black guest or b) if they do host are going to get a pretty damning review if their true colours shine through. 

On a similar note, many companies (including mine) shortlist candiates 'blind', ie. we don't see the name/gender and other giveaway details when going through CVs.  

I think most of us would agree that it's not OK to brush racism under the carpet in order to keep the status quo.

[Alon1]

@Gordon0 

It seems to have proven an over reaction to not such a major problem according to the stats that Robin from Australia posted. Airbnb's problems due to discrimination was a fraction of the total.

Another point worth noting, that Airbnb blanking of photos only works if Guest is first time user or doesn't have previous Reviews, because if they do it's easy to check if they have reciprocal reviews, and if so, hey presto you can see their photos. So it's a half way measure at best.

While the bottom line is that Airbnb can't stop racism or prejudice of any kind.

If it's not photo, then it can just easily be name and with it ethnicity.

  (eg. Difficult to disguise Oriental names, especially when as they frequently load their names in Chinese or Korean script, etc.)

[Alon1]

@Gordon0 

Ps. The position you support must take into consideration both sides, meaning that you should equally advocae for blanking of photos of Hosts till after booking. 

       In sum, a faceless booking process.

       No thank you.