Guest information, PHOTO!!!!!!

[Francisco70]

I do not know if it's a coincidence, but lately all the reservations they make for my place, are guests who do not have a photo or have a picture of a drawing, flower, or anything that is not related to their person. THIS MUST BE CONTROLLED! Airbnb does not give us any information about the person who is going to come to our place. If there is an emergency and ... (I have to call the police for example) I do not have any information about the person who has been in my house, not even a photo.
If they come home I don´t know if they are my guests!

I know... I can make my reservations only with a person with previous official information. But this is playing at a disadvantage with people who don´t ask for it. It's not fair. I don´t ask for official information, just a minimum of security. I believe that a minimum of information, such as a real and clear photo of the guest, must be obligatory for all reservations.
I do not want more pictures about animals, robots, flowers, feet or hands. In an emergency case I can not tell someone I only have a picture of their hands ...

My next guest, of course, he does not have an identifiable photo, and he has only one evaluation and it is a bad evaluation.  What can I do if something happens .....?  What security is there in a system based on checking whether the person has Facebook or not?

[Louise231]

I've had this a few times and every time when i've messaged guests to tell them they need to upload a proper photo they've all done it fine, or airbnb have been happy to cancel the booking.

The guests are usually new and when they link from their Facebook account the photo is used on airbnb, generally as soon as you point out it needs to be a pic of them they are happy to swap.

I have instant book switched on, and i just message the guest saying you need to change your photo or you won't have access to my house, regardless of your booking being confirmed or not.

So far every time there's been a delay to them sortin this either a second message from me or airbnb has sorted it. Everyone i've spoken to at the call centre on airbnb has said a photo that does not have a clear picture of the person breaks their own rules and they are happy to cancel penalty free (after both me and them have contacted the guest to get them to change it).

If people are getting conflicting messages from airbnb then that needs to be addressed, but i've had this problem maybe half a dozen times, and so far no guest has penalised me in the review for forcing them to put a proper photo up. (it's usually newbies to airbnb, or old profiles set up ages ago who have never actually made a booking)

It just needs to be a bit more forceful from airbnb, leaving it to hosts to chase creates an issue with consistancy.

[Christine615]

Today I got a request to book from a person who is new. She introduced herself, gave her age, and the reason for her visit and asked if she could host her children (local) at the apartment for dinner. I said that would be fine.

The profile said "verified." But it appears they only verified the phone number and email. Not sure how. There is no profile photo. Did they also verify the credit card?

I think Airbnb as a booking service has not held up their end of the bargain. I get that older individuals may not be internet saavy, but to allow for a profile that does not include the same information a host is required to provide is egregious. It should be name, address, phone, and verification. Along with a short bio about who they are.

I've only been doing this since summer, and so far it's been mostly positive. But the negatives need addressing by Airbnb ASAP!

[Neli5]

I also get IB with no photos and every time I worry and the experience is quite stressful until the guests arrive.

I am now asking for photos with the idea of cancelling bookings without a photo. 

It has nothing to do with discrimination. We know where the guests are from. On the contrary, I am fully prepared to discriminate against booking without photos. It's a question of reciprocity.

I find that guests are fully prepared to provide the photo if I explain to them that I have shown them the 20 picture of my house and my photo and full profile. I worry if they have no photo. 

AirBnb should add to their instructions in the part relating to photo, something along these lines:

"Please take into account that Hosts provide detailed photos of their house, list all their amenities, as well as their profile and personal photo.  Please be respectful and post your real photo. Hosts will feel uncomfortable if you are not prepared to post your real photo by reciprocity and may refuse your booking."

If they don't add a photo after such or similar text, I believe we can be sure that they will not be respectfull guests.