Horrible And Dangerous New Profile Pic Policy

Daniel2195
Level 7
Orting, WA

Horrible And Dangerous New Profile Pic Policy

AirBnB’s new “no pic needed” policy is HORRIBLE and dangerous to hosts and guests. It leave hosts with no way of knowing that the person checking in is the person who actually booked the reservation, without rudely asking to see a picture ID. I was told the policy change was to “combat racism” by an AirBnB rep. I can’t think of anything more dangerous to both hosts and guests than AirBnB sending people of color to stay at some racist host’s house (who would have previously just looked at their profile pic and declined their reservation). Instead AirBnb is endangering people of color by sending them to confront such racists IN PERSON and in ignorance.

 

Also, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community it’s not safe for me and my husband to book places to stay for ourselves without making it clear we’re a gay couple. It could get us beaten and killed, especially overseas. AirBnB’s new “no pic policy” endangers LGBTQ+ people who don’t bother posting a pic of themselves for bigoted hosts to see them as a couple (and decline the booking). Instead, we can now show up as a gay couple unexpectedly to a bigot’s house and be confronted with their hate.

 

It’s clear that whoever formulated this new “no pic required” policy has zero understanding of the safety and liability issues involved for both guests and hosts. Please require pics so everyone can get back the small measure of protection they provide for all involved!

63 Replies 63

@ Rebecca

Well, here’s a story for you. I Had guests recently who robbed us, smoked all over our home, ashing cigarettes on practically every surface of our home including our sofa throw rugs and beds, and wore dirty, muddy, salty shoes and boots throughout our home. The guy booking requested a 4 night stay. He was local, and had a new profile with no reviews which promppted us to heavier questioning as to why he would require our home, and what his intentions were. He fed us a story about burst pipes and flooding in his house so he needed somewhere local to stay during clean up and repairs. He said he was coming from another AirBnB, but had to check out as another guest was booked. We felt bad for the guy and accepted him. As soon as I saw his picture,  I didn’t like his look, and Stephan agreed with me. He was hard. He was posturing in his selfie with a tough guy, white-dude-wanna-be-gangsta look about him. I didn’t like his eyes. They looked dark to me. It’s a guy I would try to avoid if I encountered him on the street. And trust me, I’m not sheltered. I grew up in Detroit in a rough area.

Because of this feeling, we had our neighbour watch the house for us ( he already does, but we told him how we felt so that he would be extra keen). They didn’t have extra guests over,  or make any noise violations so everything appeared ok from the outside. But, When I went in to clean, I was hit with a wall of smoke! I was distracted so much by the horrible smell  that I didn’t start to notice our missing items till later. We’re at roughly $2000 worth of theft and damages. They tampered with and disabled one of our locks, and even tried to take our 50” smart tv, but it was mounted to the wall and they couldn’t get it off.

Had I seen his photo up front, I would have denied his request based on my gut. Airbnb makes penalties so severe  for cancellations though that we allowed it, and thought asking the neighbours to watch out would be enough. Lesson learned. Surveillance cameras are going up.  

I have a lot of concern for those who are home sharing their listing. Shouldn’t host’s have an opportunity to use their gut to decide who they want to trust in their home BEFORE they agree to the booking? Pictures can go a LONG way in providing that gut feeling, I assure you. I didn’t like the look of another of our guests who abused our home by throwing a party, trashing our place, and damaging our furniture. I only accepted her because she had several good reviews. I’ve learned to go with my gut, but AirBnB made that exceedingly difficult for me. I find this policy to be negligent of hosts safety. I think that, not only should we be allowed to see a photo, but it should be a rule that the photo match their picture on their Gov ID. AND that guests can’t change the photo, unless they are submitting a new gov. ID, in which case the new photo must match the new  ID.  (Like  when the ID expires, and a new one is being updated.) this would give me more piece of mind that guests are who they’re representing themselves to be

 

I hope you can see the danger now

Too horrific!! I am so sorry you had to go through this!! And JUST imagine these THUGS pitch at your front door if you were renting out a room and a woman or young non-thug guys staying by yourself!? NATURE gave us our eyes as extra senses to connect to your GUT FEEL ! I WANT to see the face and eyes  of the person who plans to share my PRIVATE HOME!

 

Rebecca - How do you feel comfortable also with a TOTAL STRANGER know and sees everything about YOUR life - YOUR home , yet you the HOST is not ALLOWED to know or see anything of the TOTAL stranger who plans to come into your home??? And about the fact that AIRBNB 's 'loyalty' lies NOT with you the HOST (who are the very reason they are in business) but with the GUEST ONLY???

Mika8
Level 10
Zürich, Switzerland

 

airbnb says this new rule should be against discrimination .... but this regulation does not help to reduce discrimination ... in worst case even the opposite will happen..

 

The prejudices do not become less, if the host is forced into this situation (as cancellation would affect negatively the listing, therefore a host would not like to cancel after seeing the photo) .... so the host have to 'welcome' the guest and when you greet someone with negative thoughts the guest will feel it (even if only subconsciously) ... the host will look after recognizing all his prejudices and the guest will do it, due to the bad feeling.... a typical case of self-fulfilling prophecy .... 

 

overall this 'no-photo-policy' does not help against discrimination, in worst case it would make it even worse

 

(I'm sorry, but my English is too bad for such a content)

 

(ok, perhaps in best case it could help against 'mild' discrimination as the people get forced into contact and then they see, that the 'other' is not so 'bad') 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Daniel2195

I am glad you wrote this post. This was my first thought when I read about this new policy.

I would also prefer to be rejected while I am still at home rather than be faced with the racist host in person.

 

And we all know such host will not cancel the reservation and be penalized - he will rather bully you when you arrive.

 

Cathie19
Level 10
Darwin, Australia

Hi @Daniel2195

My thoughts and positive vibes are sent in support of your concerns. I cannot offer any other assistance then to say you would be welcome here, as have other LGBTI guests in the past. I’m so sorry you feel threatened and unsafe with these short sighted changes. If profile images aren’t available, reviews should be accessible to all hosts, not just instant book hosts, let us host without our arms restrained. 

 

Sadly, haters are always gonna hate, and discriminators will continue to discriminate. Bigoted hosts and guests need to be ousted from the STR platform through honest reviews and a solid investigative process by Airbnb.

 

Looking at both sides of the argument/ debate, the absence of profile images may or may not assist this process; but I can honestly say, I don’t like the ever increasing restrictions and limitations placed on hosts and guests in the traditional STR setting. 

 

I feel safer and more competent and able to communicate with a guest when I have as much information to assist with their needs as well as mine. 

 

As I stated on another post, if no images are allowed, then Airbnb must allow hosts and guests the opportunity to speak more comprehensively, without penalty, from not accepting or from declining a booking ( both host and guest) Guests should be able to cancel penalty free, if they feel there are issues, that don’t count as part of their tally. Sometimes it may not appear as discrimination, but just a gut feeling....

 

This blindfolded and penalty laced craziness, is not commercially viable to the traditional Airbnb host and guest.

Irene524
Level 1
Wellington, New Zealand

I have just recieved a booking with no photo and the only "name" is J.     They have 2 verification which may be an email address and phone number both of which can be set up with no effort and no proof of identity.  He/she has no reviews and if I cancel I am penalised.  I suddenly feel very insecure, not a nice feeling in my own home.  This person knows a lot about me from my listing and I know nothing about him or her.  I have enjoyed welcoming guests to my home but may not continue if this is how I feel every time.

 

Edyn0
Level 1
Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom

I have the same situation here, the profile picture is a strange scary cartoon of a screaming man, their are no reviews, only an email / telephone number stated as ID and unfortunately I accepted. I I cancel I will lose my impending super host status. This is madness !


@Irene524 wrote:

I have just recieved a booking with no photo and the only "name" is J.     They have 2 verification which may be an email address and phone number both of which can be set up with no effort and no proof of identity.  He/she has no reviews and if I cancel I am penalised.  I suddenly feel very insecure, not a nice feeling in my own home.  This person knows a lot about me from my listing and I know nothing about him or her.  I have enjoyed welcoming guests to my home but may not continue if this is how I feel every time.

 


 

@Edyn0  Have you messaged this guest? if not, I suggest you do this ASAP. Be a bit chatty, ask what brings him to your area, blah, blah, tell him you aren't comfortable with the profile pic he uses and ask him to please upload a proper profile photo. He might be okay, just thought that was a funny picture to use. And you can tell a lot about someone by exchanging messages. If he doesn't answer, or answers in a way that makes you still feel red flags, or refuses to send you an actual face photo, call Airbnb, tell them you're uncomfortable with this reservation and ask them to cancel it wiothout penalties to you.

Ben551
Level 10
Wellington, New Zealand

@Edyn0 what @Sarah977 says is spot on. We had a booking request 2 days ago from a guy with a beach as his profile photo and no ID. We approached him lightly as Sarah recommends and he sorted it immediately, no objection. Turned out to be a very nice guy who communicated well and was perfectly fine about it all. I think sometimes these things are quite innocent.

Yip! Exactly! The guest are now allowed to know all your inside outs and  'discriminate' against the hosts to their hearts delight , BUT Airbnb turns their back on the HOSTS (the very reason they are in business) and creates a VERY unsafe platform and scenarios for the hosts!!

I couldn’t agree more and have made my feelings clear to Airbnb. It seems that the fact that we own, maintain and pay for our properties holds little value as we find ourselves being treated like mushrooms and kept in the dark as to our potential guests. I always have a discussion by email initially and it helps having a pic of them in my mind. Discrimination seems to be Airbnb’s problem, I wouldn’t be discriminating on appearance just age, as I do not accept bookings from youngsters for obvious reasons, this way I have no idea how old a guest could be.

 

Airbnb may find that we as owners will be adding our own guidelines which will be proof of ID in passport or license form prior to accepting/confirming a booking and again on entry to the property,  as I feel the rush to extract more bookings which is clearly the idea, puts us, the owners at risk.  Ridiculously that as an Airbnb “paying” host we may be forced to enforce our own rules!

 

Airbnb needs to ensure they are working with us as a partner, as they may end up killing the “ Golden Goose!” 

Sally221
Level 10
Berkeley, CA

I used up a chunk of my word limit on the "In this house" creed & it may have reassured some of the gay couples who have stayed with us- and we have had so many perfectly lovely guests "Love is love" I hope that is a clear beacon for kindly folk and a nudge away for the kind of people I Never want to host.

I'd send J. a friendly greeting that included a question about what brings this person to your area and a gentle query about how best to connect & be hospitable. Be clear your will be around, ready to be helpful any one planning hanky panky is going to be discouraged and it is hoped will try elsewhere.  Can you see where they are from? If it says China you might just have a language barrier, but if your guest is from Wellington,  get nosy, ask many questions in the spirit of cheery host & hostess,

                                                                                                                                 best of luck, Sally

Carol215
Level 2
New Jersey, United States

Hi all, I too am not happy about no photo's available. I am in a beach town ,summer is my busy time. I want to see who is interested in my home. We have an age restriction with valid ID required at check in. The photo a person posts is a birds eye view of the impression the guest wants to make on a potential hostess.I agree that a guest can lead us on by a nice pic,however experience has proven that a party picture is worth staying away from. ABnB is in it for the $,so are we. But they don't have any risk we do. Thanks!

I have deleted my profile picture in protest.