I've had to stop hosting on several occasions because of the pressure related to accepting a certain quota of request regardless of if they were a good fit or totally disregarded my required guest requirements. I had two very uncomfortable situations that I decided not to panic or overreact to. I just treated the guest extra nice so the situation wouldn't go sour.
The mother of a 3rd party booking was an alcoholic, smoked cigar and was partially deaf so talked at an extremely high volume on the phone all day. To keep her from drinking and smoking in front of my home, I had to give her access to the entire house so she could drink and smoke in the backyard. It was an awful week for me. It's not that she was very nice. I decided against complaining to her son or Airbnb. in fear of a negative review or worse. Almost all of my 3rd party bookings have been mothers of locals. This always results in a guest that hasn't read my listing and house rules or guest that are totally unfamiliar with home sharing. I always tell the person booking to be sure their guest reads the House Rules, yet it never happens. Another thing with the 3rd party guest is they almost always have visitors. Whereas my listing clearly states NO VISITORS.
I then had a young woman book my place for 4 days, left after 2 days and gave my house key to another guest without my knowledge or permission. Again I just decided to treat everyone nicely and make the best of it. Because my maximum length of stay is 6 days, I can endure some of the less than ideal situations with grace.
Because I've been able to use my own judgment to select my guest based on their photos, profile, reviews, and questions back and forth before accepting request the overall experience has been great for me as well as the guest. I value that I have been able to connect with and host likeminded woman. This also doesn't draw attention from my neighbors.
As I mentioned above I stopped hosting after two problematic guest back to back. Starting back up only recently only to find a new policy in place to further abuse host by not providing profile photos with the booking request. This is absurd, as host images of our homes are made public with detailed information yet we are expected to basically let faceless anonymous people into our homes. This may work fine for instant book and properties that host don't live in. I am a real estate professional and am very well aware of discrimination laws. Even under most laws, people are allowed to decide who the rent to in their private homes.
Even in online dating where people might interact for an hour or two in public requires profile photos. Bottom line is I need to see the face and eyes of a person coming into my home. I am not running a hotel. The higher level of risk now associated with hosting on Airbnb and the increasing burdens heaped on the host to adhere to unreasonable pressures is taking the joy out of hosting. This is a very imbalanced system that exploits the very (in home) host that they built their Ad Campaigns on. As soon as a new platform similar to Airbnb becomes available Airbnb will get what they deserve. Unfortunately, many of us have come to rely on the extra income.
SHAME ON YOU AIRBNB for putting PROFIT AND CONVENIENCE BEFORE THE SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF YOUR HOST
