Hi I promised an update. It appears that you can no longer see the photo, as you all must have now noticed, or the details of who wants to book until after the booking has gone through.
I went to an airbnb meeting and many hosts raised the same concerns that I have.
It appears that this has been done as a host rejected a black persons booking and it was widely seen in the media and airbnb has taken steps to ensure that it doesnt happen again.. This seems to me to be overkill as we have all signed up to be non discriminatory. The rules are already in place and hosts who are prejudice should be removed. But it now calls into question who can turnup at your home, do they have bad reviews. Even when a guest has 10 reviews and recomended by 5 what about the other 5 reviews?
Al
Hosting for 12 years Superhost for most of that time and have grown each year.