Appeal to All Airbnb Hosts:
You are probably as frustrated and concerned with the security issue, lack of profile picture and government-issued ID, as I am.
I personally have written on this Forum about it and contacted Airbnb directly via various channels. Airbnb keeps telling me that they listen, but so far nothing has changed.
On the other hand, Airbnb keeps trying to make us turn on the pseudo option "Show guest's profile picture AFTER booking". This is NOT an option for me, and probably isn't for most Hosts. I suggest to all: Do not turn on this option. Let's show Airbnb how we feel about it.
Airbnb also tries to force us to turn on the option Instant Booking as only this option filters out requests from guests without a Government-issued ID. However, this kind of ID is essential for being a secure, transparent, and well-functioning community. A government-issued ID should be a minimum requirement for any Airbnb profile, guest or host. Instead Airbnb regards it as a smart feature, which, on top of that, only works together with the (commercial) feature Instant Booking! I suggest to all: Do not turn on this option. Let's show Airbnb how we feel about it.
Finally, I suggest one more thing to express our dissatisfaction and concern, and to make ourselves heard by Airbnb: Let's go 'on strike' by blocking our calenders for 1 week (for a starters), from Monday 11 March 2019.
A Community Without a Face is Not a Community!
