Profile Join Date, Month Removed

[Ana-and-Jason0]

Why has the month been removed from the joined/profile creation date when viewing a potential guests profile?

When recieving booking requests and inquiries we (and I would assume many other hosts) often click on the guests name/profile picture to view their specfic verifications and past reviews. For guests with no reviews, we found the join date listed under the guests name (ex. Joined in June 2018) to be an extremely useful piece of information. If the current dated was July 5th, 2018 and the guest had just created their profile in June 2018, we would use this information to help determine if they would be a safe/suitable booking. The guest might be new and reputable or they might be booking to use the rental for illicit activities, and the month would allow us to determine whether or not to approach the guest with certain questions. 

The join month also aids in knowing how much information to give guests, such as offering more information or guidance to someone whose profile is only 2 months old and may have not used the site verses someone whose profile is say 6 or more months old. 

The join date appears to have changed today from listing the month, "Joined in Month 20XX", to simply "Joined in 20XX".

Using the inquirey I just received as an example, the profile says "Joined in 2018" (It is January 26th, 2019 at the time of writing this), I have no idea if the profile is 3.5 weeks old or over a year old. The profile has no picture and 2 verifications. If I had the join month, say it was December 2018, I would be able to scrutinize this booking more, both for my safety as a host and offering adequate information to the guest. If I had the join month as January 2018, I would know that this person has had their profile for an extended amount of time, either they heard of the website, created a profile and didn't use it, but they are still aware of Airbnb over the past year, or potentially they have used it once or twice and not received a review. 

Either way the join month is an important piece of information that should be listed on all profiles, guests and hosts alike. 

[Ben551]

Blimey @Ana-and-Jason0  is right!  I was just looking at guest join dates a few days ago.  Now they have all been reduced to just the year, no month. It's like that for hosts and guests too, so it looks like a global change.  Unlike the profile photo thing, there is no "seeing the full date" later, it's just.... gone.  Even from my own profile.

[Robin4]

@Ana-and-Jason0 @Ben551

Changes which result in the limiting of guest information are happening faster than you can wave a stick!

I think their aiming for the Fedex model ....."Congratulations this is a tracking notice, you have an unmarked  package for delivery on XXXXXX date"!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Susan151]

I just looked at my own profile, and then did an inginitio search in my neighborhood. Each host profile that I looked at had a Month, Year joined date.

I also have Month, Year joined for all my upcoming reservations.

Suppose this is another trial balloon?

[Emiel1]

@Susan151,

Same in my part of the world: months are still there.

The profile of @Ana-and-Jason0 says "Joined in januari 2013" :

https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/4869295

[Emilia42]

@Ana & Jason, you are relying on Airbnb to supply you with this information, which really doesn't give you any answers, just mostly assuming and guessing about a guest's past profile history. Why don't you ask them in your initial message? "Hello, can you please tell us a little about your experience with Airbnb? Are you new to the site, have you stayed with a host before? This important will help us better prepare for your trip." That is the only way you are truly going to get reliable information.

Also, there is a brand new Airbnb policy where all profile pictures are hidden when a guest requests to book or inquiry. You will not be able to see the profile picture until after a booking is confirmed. So hosts now have very little to go off when looking at a guest’s profile.

[Sarah977]

While I am becoming more and more disgusted with Airbnb's ever changing policies regarding tools hosts had to vet guests, I don't think this one is that important, although it's pointless. 

When a guest joined doesn't really tell you that much. It's whether they have reviews or not and how good those reviews are. I've had guests who have been members for 2 or 3 years, but had no reviews. When I asked them about that, they said yes, they joined back then, but actually never used it. One said she'd had 2 Airbnb stays, but the hosts didn't write a review. 

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Ana-and-Jason0

Over 50% of our guests are newbies - price correctly and you will get the guests you want. We dont look for reviews as a measure as they can be misleading, but they are helpful of course. Neither is it a measure to say someone joined in 2015 but only booked for the first time in 2019. We are guilty of that... and we are superhosts. Our rule is gut feeling - and two night minimum! We don't care about photos as most people post their 'I am amazing photos' (see ours) to impress or (subconsiously) mislead. We also use another platform where we get no info about the guests, but pricing appropriatley means we have had the most lovely guests from there too. My advice is use FB, LinkedIn etc to do a quick check on your guests - it's not fool proof but....

[Emilia42]

@Gerry And Rashid, so very true on the "I am amazing photos!" Photos on social media these days are so carefully chosen and staged that you have no idea who anyone really is anymore! I've said before that my best guests was a cactus and my worst guest was a well dressed man, with his arm around his son, smiling in front of a lighthouse.