Guest profile pictures removed

John232
Level 10
Bangor, United Kingdom

Guest profile pictures removed

I have been an Airbnb host for many years, but am very concerned to find just now that profile pictures of potential guests are now not being displayed until a booking is confirmed. For me and I am sure many other hosts who welcome guests into our homes it is vitally important to be able to see what a guest is like and make a judgement about their suitability for accommodation within ones home where there may also be children. I am VERY concerned about this decision that seems to encourage 'incognito' travelling, and I cannot continue to offer accommodation unless hosts are able to see a good clear and recognisable profile picture of potential guests BEFORE we accept a new booking.

 

Withdrawing profile pictures makes selecting our guests a lottery, and takes away from us the ability to exercise choice. This is not what I regard as responsible hosting. I have always valued the vetting process provided by Airbnb but have many times expressed my concern that so many guests seem to seek accommodation with avatar profile images. In my opinion this is an insult to the hospitality offered by hosts. This new decision to hide all profile pictures of guests until after acceptance is not acceptable, because it encourages this incognito invasion of a hosts private home.

250 Replies 250

@Helen3

I also use IB (not through choice - it's a nightmare for me - but in my market, I'd have zero chance of being seen at all in searches without IB turned on). However, because I cater for bigger groups, who do often have questions, many still send an inquiry before booking. Like the one below, for example. Thank the sweet lord, Conor didn't IB!!!! :))

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Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Oh lordy @Susan17 you dodged a bullet there can you imagine the trouble a group of teenagers could get up to in your beautiful place 🙂

To be honest, @Helen3, I have occasionally accepted groups of younger guests, but only after firmly establishing the boundaries with them before booking through conversation on the message thread, and going with my gut feeling that they could be trusted. None of them have ever let me down - unlike certain groups of more "mature" guests! The joys of IB and entire home rentals...  🙂

 

Poor Conor was out of luck though. Even though he seemed like a lovely lad, and I really  could have done with the booking, I had to turn him down. Because there was no location info, I couldn't take the chance that this wasn't a local booking, and that another 50 or 60 of his buddies wouldn't be pitching up to party in the middle of the night. Not a risk I'm willing (or can afford) to take with my home, or with my neighbours' peace and quiet. 

 

And yes, I could have asked him where he was from, but if I then rejected him on foot of that, and he complained to Airbnb, then it's a very real possiblity that it's me who would've paid a heavy price for turning him down. 

 

So the more Airbnb strips away guest identification details, and our autonomy to vet who will be staying in our homes, the more this becomes a game of Russian roulette for hundreds of thousands of hosts like me. 😞

@Susan0, OMG! NO!!

Hi, I am very concerned that Airbnb has removed our option to view profile pictures only until we have confirmed the booking. I think I should be allowed to decide who I want to rent my place to especially when I will be sharing the property with the guest. I am a single female and safety could be an issue. They say they vet, how safe is their vetting?

 

Is it reverse discrimination that the guest can see the host profile pictures?

 

They keep pushing instant book, they won't share profile photos, ID details nor verification details. They say we have 1,000,000 insurance. They say you have the right to decline but with no information present how does one make a sound judgement regarding safety?

Julie4
Level 6
Brighton, United Kingdom

Unfortunately this seems to be true. I simply ask for a clear profile picture for security reasons so that I recognise who comes to my door to let into my home. I am a single female host and this is important for my own security and safety. Once a guest has their booking accepted it will be very easy for them to continue to go ahead with the booking without making clear their profile picture. Are we able to cancel the booking if they don’t provide this? I show a clear image of my face so that guests can recognise me and get a sense of who I am. Surely this should work both ways? This is clearly in breach of our personal safety and security as hosts. We are not hotels. We are inviting people to share our homes and our personal space. This makes me afraid. 

John232
Level 10
Bangor, United Kingdom

Followers of this topic may like to read this reply I have received frm Isabelle working for Airbnb....

Hi John,

Thank you for submitting your feedback about the ability to view guest profile photos prior to booking. We're always working to make our platform more inclusive for our diverse group of users.

We truly value your feedback — your voice is both powerful and essential. I’ll be sure to pass your thoughts on to the right team.

You can also read more about Airbnb’s work to fight discrimination by visiting the links below.

Airbnb’s Nondiscrimination Policy: Our Commitment to Inclusion and Respect
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1405/airbnb-s-nondiscrimination-policy--our-commitment-to-inclus...

Airbnb’s Work to Fight Discrimination and Build Inclusion
http://blog.airbnb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/REPORT_Airbnbs-Work-to-Fight-Discrimination-and-Bu...

Thank you for your contribution, and please do let me know if there is anything else I can do to accommodate you at this time.

Kind regards,

Isabelle
www.airbnb.com/help

 

In my next message I will include my reply very much based upon the many points raised you other hosts....

John N

@John232  That would be a cut and paste reply from Isabelle that I'm sure Airbnb has prepared for all the negative feedback I'm sure they're being inundated with on this new policy.

John232
Level 10
Bangor, United Kingdom

Yes Sarah, I have been sent the same reply seeral times, and every time I tell them the second link seems to open to an irrelevant page.  They seem to ignore my comment.

I hope everyone will respond directly to Airbnb making their views strongly.  I have been invited to write an article in a UK newspaper on the issue and also do a radio interview.  It should all add to the pressure upon Airbnb to thoroughly review their whole business plan.

 

John

This is a huge safety issue for me personally. And I agree with statements above about how it is reverse discrimination that my home and my face are out there for everyone to see, yet I can't see them until I approved them?  NOPE, not happening. So I have added to my listing that I must have a recent picture of them and 4 reviews before I accept or approve anyone coming to my home. I host to females ONLY as this is my home that I live in 24/7. I'm glad others recognize the importance of safety even though airbnb doesn't care about us in this safety/discrimination regard. Thank you John for starting the conversation, it is important. - Rhonda

John232
Level 10
Bangor, United Kingdom

Hi Isabelle,

Thank you for responding to my strongly expressed concern about the new policy to exclude from hosts all pertinent information about prospective guests. I have set up a discussion about this matter and it is clear that many other hosts feel as strongly as I do.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guest-profile-pictures-removed/td-p/889936


I should explain by way of context that I have been an active Airbnb host for several years, and was previously a couchsurfing host. I can honestly say that joining Airbnb was one of the best decisions I ever made. I live in a remote location, within a fantastic mountainous landscape, and I love being able to share this with guests from all over the world. Hosting has been a very great pleasure for me. But the Airbnb offer for hosts does not now provide the same pleasurable experience that it used to be. As a host I no longer feel I am able to offer a welcome to interesting new guests, but rather as a host I am being insulted and abused. Why is this?


Like many hosts I invite people in to my own home with my teenage daughter. I also have three other daughters in their twenties, who live nearby and we remain a strong family. I aim to treat all my Airbnb guests in the same way as I would treat any visiting relative or personal friend. I like my guests to become part of the family - but I make the rule that they do not ever do any washing up or housework! Afteral,they are here whilst on holiday or for their work. Their stay at my house is a time to relax.


I have had excellent reviews often stating how I go out of my way to make every guest's visit a memorable pleasure. A high proportion of my guests have become personal friends and they return often.


I have had two complaints with airbnb. Firstly that some members blatantly do not match their profile descriptions. On one occasion the guest turned out to be a 14 year old boy from Japan who had been sent to me as part of a round Britain trek organised by his parents. Another was a female student who arrived on the membership card of her mother, who I was misled into believing was to stay with me whilst visiting her daughter at a local university. I had to host the student until she found accommodation – well beyond the time that was booked. In both off these events I managed to deal with the issues and got good reviews. But I felt very aware that things could have gone drastically wrong had any incident occurred.


Secondly, I have complained many times about prospective guests who do not post clear and recognisable profile pictures of themselves. For example a penguin in sunglasses, a dog, a crowd of people, or a camera lens. To me it is an insult to the open hospitality offered by hosts if prospective guests seek to hide behind a misleading or inaccurate profile picture.


I then had two further bad experiences where each guest had an 'avatar' picture. I told one guest that they would only be welcome if they appeared exactly as they appear in their profile picture – which in this case I think was a dog. When the guest arrived he had a girlfriend who had not booked, and I insisted that the accommodation was for a single dog. The woman was livid with him for providing misleading information. Another guest with a misleading profile picture contacted me hours before arriving to demand that my family and I must not be present during their stay, as they needed to have the whole house to themselves. I made it clear this was not the terms of the booking and had to endure a great deal of verbal abuse. They did not arrive. However during that weekend we had many other unexpected visitors who had their directions to my house taken from my airbnb profile. I can only assume this was some sort of planned 'pop-up' event.


In these days of internet fraud it is especially important for anyone to be very careful and vigilant. Despite many assurances, I have not been convinced that Airbnb carries out adequate verification of all members, and they certainly do not seem to ensure that all members have an accurate and recognisable profile picture. For me and my family one of the most important things when we invite people into our home is that all guests are properly verified and that they can be recognised easily from their profile picture. This is necessary if we meet our guests from the station or bus terminal, and also if they arrive. Otherwise anyone could turn up at our door and gain access to the whole house. This justifies the cut in the guest fee that goes to Airbnb.


I have read your non-discrimination policy document. The second link you give does not open to a document but pictures about adventures – is this what you intended? I do not see the relevance.


Your policy as it stands could be used by Airbnb when scrutinising new members, so there is no prejudice against any person from joining Airbnb as a host or as a traveller.


Whilst the intention of the non-discrimination policy is well meant, it is woefully inadequate in its design and presentation. What it demonstrates to me is Airbnb's own prejudice against anyone who does not completely share or comply with their own rather stereotyped values. The assumption being made is that all hosts are likely to scrutinise prospective guests solely on the basis of colour, religion, sexuality, gender etc. Whereas in our case it is much more a matter of ensuring reciprocal respect. We open our homes to provide hospitality to our guests and we go out of our way to make each guest experience as good as it possibly can be. As part of this experience I often accompany guests on treks in the mountains or drive them to beaches, historic sites or other events. We reveal our own profile pictures and detailed pictures of our homes, and the surrounding landscape. We expect our guests to provide reciprocal representation about themselves, their expectations and needs - including a good picture.


We also need to plan what we offer to our guests so as to be appropriate to their needs and abilities. We love guests from all parts of the world, and especially Asian, coloured or black people, and especially like to share creating traditional food. But we have had not so good experiences when one couple had a very noisy argument and created atmospheres. Also one gay couple who carried on all night. This is not so nice in a family home.

 

The assumption being made by Airbnb is that any personal information provided to hosts prior to a booking will be used as a tool to discriminate against the guest for what are currently regarded as socially unacceptable reasons. I say this is not the case at all for hosts who welcome guests into their own households. Because it is a personal service, hosts need to see who they are inviting, and need to gauge how best to meet the guests needs and expectations. The situation may be very different for the impersonal service offered by hotels or whole house lettings.


It seems that by trying to prevent discrimination on grounds of guests race, gender, sexuality etc, you are instead discriminating against the entire hosting community upon whose open generosity the whole business plan of Airbnb relies. It also seems that you fail to follow you own rules, because as stated in the policy the situation is different where hosts invite guests into their own homes where there may be children and other family members.


If Airbnb seeks to be an open and inclusive organisation, then in my view Airbnb should have consulted all those affected by any changes of policy BEFORE implementing them. A fundamental principal of good open democracy is that all people who are affected by any decision should be enabled to take part in that decision making process.


The suggestion I have made several times is that the choice of whether potential host details are required before a booking should be an option made by each host, in the same way that hosts can decide whether or not to allow instant booking.


I feel also that Airbnb should more clearly demonstrate the difference between hosts who offer a flat or a house for full occupation, as opposed to those hosts who offer accommodation within their own homes.


But this whole issue raises for me some much more serious issues about the way we promote business in the world and especially how we all use the internet. (I have a background in design, architecture, business and legal issues). For me the important thing in life is the opportunity to exert our own personal choice, as this is how we all positively shape the world in the future by the choices we make. I want to be able to make my own choices about the way I live, the food I eat, the experiences I have etc. I do not want choices to be made for me or imposed upon me by some gnome in Brussels or some business power with vested interests in making themselves more money or power to control people.


For me the whole Couchsurfing / Airbnb movement has been very important for the way it has challenged the entrenched hospitality market that largely operates through hotels and guest houses, by offering the traveller a much wider range of choice in the accommodation they use whilst exploring the world. Airbnb brought a very welcome breath of fresh air and was also a significant 'kick in the pants' to the established hospitality market.


This aspect of Airbnb is good – that it opens to travellers a much better way to experience places by visiting people's own homes, and meeting local people who love the place where they live and who wish to share their joy with their guests. This way travellers are far better able to savour the culture and landscapes they travel through, and this greatly intensified the traveling experience.

 

But at the same time we must be on guard and vigilant against people who will and do exploit the generosity and welcome offered by hosts, as in the examples I have given above and also through other horrific stories I have been told by other hosts.


It concerns me very much the way that internet businesses could be shaping the way we all trade and behave. I describe this as the 'muppetisation' process in which the public is increasing being treated as if they are gullible idiots incapable of making their own decisions. They must therefore rely upon decisions being made for them. This is why I voted to leave the EU – because I want to make my own choices about things. It is also why I initially supported Airbnb, for the way it has revolutionised the hospitality industry throughout the whole world.


In my view by attempting to impose a non-discrimination policy on hosts you are creating a contentious 'can of worms'. The very act of trying to impose your values upon others is itself discrimination. It is impossible to police other people's prejudice. There may be very sound and valid reasons why people may wish to be selective about who they extend hospitality to. Being able to make choices is an important part of life. We all make hundreds of choices every day of our lives.


May I suggest that there is a far better way? Instead of forcing people to adopt your own values, it is far better to promote what you believe in by way of example and giving people clear choices. For Airbnb this could be achieved by designing the website so as to give as much choice as possible to prospective hosts and guests, and to make the form of hospitality offer very clear to guests at the outset. For example I suggest that the graphic image used as a pointer on the maps should be different for offers that are hotels, exclusive houses or flats, and for people who are offering home hospitality, and this graphic icon should be used throughout the site like a label. I have suggested four categories, but there may be more. The rules that apply to the booking process could also be different for each type of offer. In the case of family homes the host should be able to make it clear that a thorough verification process must have been completed, and they have at least one clear and recognisable profile picture, of the guest alone – or of the group if they are travelling as a group.

 

It both staggers and dismays me that Airbnb ever decided to implement this new policy without prior consultation with all those likely to be affected by the decision.

The decision seems more ridiculous when you put the situation in the normal market place....


Can you imagine going to a greengrocers stall where a wide range of beautiful fruits and vegetables are displayed, but when you indicate that you would like to buy certain items the shutters go down and the lights go out and you are handed a paper bag of pre-selected fruit?


Can you imagine a dating site where people can see many enticing profiles, but they have no choice of whom they wish to meet?


What you are doing is taking away the means and opportunity for hosts to offer genuine open hospitality, and are replacing it with a lottery. This concept may be appropriate for impersonal stays at house lettings, hotels and guest houses, but it is not appropriate for those who wish to welcome guests to their own homes. For me this is the crucial part of the Airbnb offer and it is a very great mistake that this vital aspect of the Airbnb experience is being jeopardised.


I am still listed with airbnb, but I am not accepting any new guests unless this matter is addressed. I am also contacting other Airbnb hosts known to me to discover their view on this decision. It is already very clear from the number of people who have written in string terms on this feedback that there is a strong dissatisfaction about the decision.


I hope you will consider this issue carefully and will take the matter to the principal directors of the company. My wish is that the decision will be reversed as quickly as possible and that other means are used to encourage the values that your wish to promote. In my experience battles are never won by imposing force, but much is achieved by setting a good example and changing people's hearts. Most importantly the values promoted by Airbnb should be about creating greater liberty and choice, and should not be about imposing restrictive control or coercion.


John Nicholson

John232
Level 10
Bangor, United Kingdom

It is now a week later and I have received no reply or acknowledgement from Airbnb.  It gives me the impression they are not at all interested in responding to people who do not share or submit to their uncompromising view.

John Nicholson.

I also have written to airbnb and get passed from one "specialist" to another "specialist" about the fact that I am dissatisfied that my profile pic is accessible yet I have to approve someone before I see their profile picture. I am single female who ONLY hosts to other females and I am not about to get dinged for declining someone, anyone that I do not feel comfortable with as I am in a shared property. I share bathrooms, kitchen, living spaces with guests. I am finding it insulting that I can't preview someone coming into MY home. It has been one week and I have yet to hear from anyone substantial about my concerns in this regard. - Rhonda 

That is a very well-written letter that doesn't just voice our concerns, but offers viable solutions. Thank you.

 

Is it shareable on social media somehow? 

I agree completely john, I have just written a long complaint to Airbnb as well, but I probably not getting anywhere either. Wondering if youhave a response yet john