No profile photo accessibility before booking or never

[Sunshine4]

I am seriously considering to stop being a host. I am very frustrated!! I have been hosting for  5 years mostly as a super host. Now, that Airbnb changed their policy about availing photos of guests before the reservation is booked and has no policy as to guests even requiring a photo at all, I am declining more reservations than before. I feel very uncertain and unsafe about allowing guests into my world who do not have reviews, or no reviews for years, no real profile and of course no photo available to me. How can I feel safe. Airbnb seems to take the side of the guests and protects them more than their hosts. It is we hosts, who run a bigger risk than the guests, it is we who open our homes and lives to perfect strangers! My photo is avaialble to the guests and I could be discriminated against as well!

[Alice595]

@Sunshine4 This is the most stupid decision ever made by Airbnb. In this forum, it has been posted so many times and so many hosts have complained with no vail.

To live with it, I ask more questions before I accept a booking. And I start to ask guest to upload a government Id. If no verified Id is provided, definitely I reject the booking request. I also ask the guest to provide the full name, the residence city, sex, and age. If they don't provide any of these information, I will not accept the request. That is how much I can do to protect myself and my property. I also start trying to turn Instant Booking off so that I can also screen those guests with reviews.

Hope you and other hosts can also share the measures taken for safety and security. 

[Robin4]

@Sunshine4 

Sunshine a guest can open an account with Airbnb without any photo identification, but they cannot book a property without having a positive identification including a photo that is a passable likeness for a passport or Drivers licence photo! TGhey need to be verified in order to book!

Now that doesn't mean they have to post as a profile photo that identity photo, they can choose to use a greyed sillouette as their profile photo, or that cat in the back yard,  or the goldfish in the tank. It just means they have verified themselves to Airbnb.

You are right, we are over a barrel in that we never get to see what some guests look like before they knock on our doors. But that has always been the case. If they choose to search with an anonymous photo then that is what we will end up with once they have booked. Nothing has changed there.

It doesn't really effect me Sunshine, most of my bookings are IB's and as soon as they book, I get that photo to see what they look like.

What I object to is the fact that Airbnb tell us this level of secrecy is required . Airbnb are of course telling us it is in line with community standards and is designed to fight against racial discrimination.

That is the last reason behind it.

Snshine, as you say, the guest can see the hosts photo and details and make a racial/religious/gender based decision to proceed with placing a booking, and they do that with Airbnb’s blessing! Discrimination is a one way street where Airbnb are concerned! It doesn’t exist in the guest community, it only exists in the hosting community!

The ENTIRE reason behind it is to stop hosts declining reservations that they do not feel comfortable with. It is entirely money driven……….Airbnb wants that booking fee before any other considerations, and deliberately make the entire booking process for the host as anonymous as possible.

As I said, it doesn't affect me one way or the other but I can understand how it will effect many hosts who host in a private room, or a lone female host where prior information is required for serious reasons.

Sunshine I am sure it is or will be looked at before long, Airbnb are aware that there is a considerable amount of backlash to this move, particularly from users saying Airbnb are setting double standards by allowing discrimination among guests but not among hosts.....

Don't give up just yet!

Cheers......Rob