Fellow hosts, guests, & the Airbnb team,
After noticing that pending guests’ profile pictures have been greyed out for a time, and after several calls and follow up with Airbnb, I have learned that this is not a glitch, but an “experiment” in which 5% of all global hosts have been enrolled to measure discrimination by censoring guests’ profile pictures. As a Superhost on Airbnb who has been enrolled without permission or notification…I am disappointed and insulted that Airbnb doesn’t trust me to be non-discriminatory…that as a visual person who enjoys to see the way that people of any race, gender, or ethnicity choose to present themselves and the environment that they frame themselves in are now censored …that Airbnb doesn’t allow me to get to know a stranger a little bit before accepting them into my own home… it makes me feel untrusted…judged…guilty until proven innocent…creeped out (for the guest can see me, my property, and profile, while I can’t see back through that one way window). To use the cliche “a picture speaks a thousand words”, this move, which did not take into account any feedback, permission, or consensus from hosts, really is a step in the wrong direction. Airbnb is about community and trust. To assume discrimination as a default is really insulting to those of us who are inviting diversity into our own homes.
I have taken the Airbnb pledge to be non-discriminatory, and it is genuine. I enjoy hosting guests of all walks of life, ethnicities, preferences, etc. This should be the default assumption of all hosts until proven otherwise.
When I myself am a guest on Airbnb, in the unlikely but possible circumstance that a host would be discriminatory against me, I’d prefer that host to have the full, unfiltered version of my profile, pictures and all, so that I could avoid being placed in a position where I would be staying in someone’s home who would be discriminatory.
Airbnb, please unblock my guests’ profile pictures. They and I do not deserve to be censored!
Thanks,
-Trevor
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/457547