Is Airbnb hiding guest photos again?

[Christopher187]

Went into my inbox today and all of my guest photos for inquiries/requests are hidden.  I only see the photos of confirmed and past bookings.  If I remember correctly, didn't airbnb do this for a stint a while back, to try and reduce discrimination or something?  

Is everyone else not able to see profile photos?

[Mark116]

@Lizzie  This option of requiring a photo does not appear when I go into the booking section of the listing, as per the instructions at the link.  Its the same as it ever was, this is disappointing, considering that since we live on site, there is a safety issue of not having any way to verify that the person who booked is the person who arrives at the house. Very disappointing.

[Rebecca181]

@Mark116 Perhaps you can include in your listing that you reserve the right to request a copy of the guest's government issued photo ID, either at the time of booking, or upon arrival, prior to checking in? On my listing, I make it clear that I reserve the right to check ID prior to check-in. This gives me an escape hatch if something seems fishy and I am concerned about the legitimacy of the booking - Such as a guest not being willing to share their photo with the Airbnb community. Which is supposedly what we are. Not a virtual space of anonymous drifters and possible grifters...

[Mark116]

@Rebecca181  I wonder if airbnb would back us up on that?  There have been a couple recent posts, since airbnb instituted the new 'nobody needs to know what the guest looks like' policy of people who said they asked for photo/gov. ID and the guests complaind and it was the hosts who were said to be in the wrong, I can't remember, but someone may have even said they were suspended for asking for ID.  We have been asking recent no photo guests to either upload their photo or plan to show an ID when they arrive, but it all adds one more layer of distrust and uncertainty, something else to worry about.

[Rebecca181]

@Mark116 I didn't see those posts, but if that's the case, then that is something my commercial property insurer would be very interested to hear about - The fact that I am being deprived of my right to know who is renting my home. Without ID, I have no way to quickly press criminal charges if something untoward were to happen to me or my property. I would have no way to go after damages (because it is often the case that hosts will be denied damages under the Host Protection Guarantee - Plenty of posts about that here). So, if what you say is true, then it only confirms my long-held sentiment that Airbnb doesn't give a hoot about traditional hosts who rent out their own home and/or home-share (the very concept and arrangement Airbnb was founded upon - ironic, isn't it?).

And by the way, I called Airbnb once to confirm a guest had a Government-issued photo ID on file as I had a bad feeling about him for some reason (he supposedly had one per his verifications), and guess what - He didn't! Took an hour for Customer Support to admit this (with some embarassment, which I appreciated - They even had to have a long meeting to 'discuss' and 'research' and then called me back to 'fess up). So, there you go. And by the way, VRBO and the other booking sites I list with have no problem with my requiring a government-issued photo ID if I choose to do so. And in some countries, it is actually required. Hosts cannot rent without getting a copy of the guest's ID. So how can Airbnb block this? 

In a nutshell, it comes down to this: My guests rights end where mine begin. And I really don't care what Airbnb has to say about it, because the fact that they don't care at all who stays in my home became abundantly clear to me long ago. Which is why I do what I need to do to feel safe in my own home and to protect my property and my primary investment - my house. If Airbnb doesn't like it, they can kick me off of the platform. Their increasingly cavalier attitude toward traditional hosts is only getting worse by the minute - No other booking site prohibits me from knowing who is renting my property, so I really do hope that there is some unfortunate misunderstanding and they are not ostracizing hosts for verifying ID. Perhaps @Lizzie will chime in to clear this matter up (?)

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  Yes, I'm not sure what thread that was- the host was told by Airbnb that they either couldn't request a photo or couldn't request ID, can't remember which. And yes, I recall they said they were suspended.

That's so wrong and crazy!

[Lizzie]

Hello @Mark116, @Rachel177, @Rebecca181, @Sarah977, @Huma0, 

Thanks for this. I'm going to feed your additional questions back to the team–as I'm sure you have seen we have already received a lot of feedback, so I am compiling this and reporting this all back on behalf of you and your fellow community members. 

To add, Rachel and Mark, to provide more information on the option enabling you to set a requirement that your guests provide a profile photo, we are currently rolling this out and so this option will be available to all hosts over the coming weeks. 

I hope this helps, speak to you soon.

Lizzie

[Mark116]

@Lizzie  Thanks, you might also pass on to the 'team' that it would have been much, much smoother and fairer if they rolled out both sides at the same time, e.g. to give hosts the ability to require a photo after booking confirmation simultaneously with guests not having to upload a photo.

 It's really inexplicable why the company would have chosen instead to give guests the option of no photo and hosts still not having the ability to require one be shown after booking, even though your own messages certainly make it sound like this function ALREADY exists and has been changed, but as of this morning, we still don't have that option.

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie  There are 726 negative responses over 49 pages of host objection to the policy of not letting us see a guest's profile photo until after their booking is confirmed.

It's blatantly obvious that Airbnb doesn't care AT ALL about hosts' safety or comfort level.

[Lizzie]

Thanks @Mark116 and @Sarah977 for your additional responses.

I can understand your point here Mark regarding the option. The way I see it, due to the number of hosts in countries around the world, it is best to roll out features gradually to make sure everything is working as it should be – the reason we shared this with you here in the CC, is because we want to give you a heads up about this so that you are more informed. I know this should have been clarified more in the topic and so I want to let you know I have updated the post to help with this. I am very hopeful you will see this option soon, so please do keep a lookout.

Sarah, it is really sad to read your post here as this really isn't the case. A lot of thought has gone into this decision, taking into account both hosts and guests at the same time. I know this is an important area for you and many hosts, and understandable you want to make sure that your safety is priority (as it should be). Hopefully you will find the new Host Control option helpful in assisting with this and I would like to hear your thoughts if you decide to use this. 

The feedback provided here will not go unheard, as I say I am bringing together all the thoughts shared on this in the CC and will be highlighting this back to the team. 

I hope this helps.

Thank you again,

Lizzie

[Mark116]

@Lizzie  Sorry, I'm just not buying it. 

My last three reservations have been blank photos, before and after acceptance, which means that airbnb gave the guests the options of  no photo without giving me the option of requiring a photo to be seen after booking. 

This isn't about rolling the new protocol out in different parts of the world, it's about rolling out the guest half without the host half, so you put me in the position of accepting reservations with no photo,  period.  No photo before I accept and no photo after I accept.

[Duda5]

Lizzie,

You don't build trust by hiding their faces IT HAS AN OPPOSITE EFFECT. We are not a commercial establishment, with front desk and full staff. This is our homes. This will only reduce acceptance rate since it all becomes a big secret of suspicious activities with hidden faces. There is no excitement communicating with a grey initial. Acceptance comes with trust and this policy only reduces transparency and trust. It will be a disaster if it goes into effect.

The ability to choose who enters in our homes, sleeps in the second bedroom of our house or in the same room and share common areas with our neighbors is OURS. Airbnb is removing it from us. I urge you to pass this along to the team responsible for such change. Acceptance rate will drop significantly, no one wants to interect with shadows and their initial. There is no interpesonal connection, it only increases VULNERABILITY. If airbnb wants to increase acceptance rate guest should be more exposed so we can see them, trust them, connect with them not less exposure. 

@Lizzie Please allow me to share a few thoughts with you. This feature in 3rd world countries, where I come from, where crimes are significantly higher, will be a disaster, shared rooms and private rooms will be deeply impacted, even entire houses. The impact on non instant booking apartments where people wants an extra step of connection with guests before accepting will also be much higher. Even instant booking will be impacted by, I had instant booking for a long time until we got a fraudulent transaction from someone who booked our place at 9pm on same day with a stolen credit card I WAS ABLE TO VERIFY THEM BECAUSE OF THE PROFILE PICTURE and I would have missed it if it wasn't for that. This guest booked on the same day under my wife's profile. I can forward the reservation number in private if you like to further investigate.

My other sensitive point is 3rd party bookings which happens ALL THE TIME. We have no access to the verified ID feature so we only have the photo to identify the guest who arrives at our door. The fact that we will see it later it only brings problems, we will need more help from airbnb team, more calls, more problems, guests don't upload their photo right away, some will feel entitled to not post it at all or keep blocking our calendars until we decide to cancel that landscape picture. It feels like whom ever proposed this never hosted and never did a check-in in their lifes. 

This gives guests a blank card to play with, INCREASES FRAUD, DECREASES TRUST. Look at your competitors, they are small fish compared to airbnb because PRIVATE PROPERTIES ARE TREATED AS HOTELS. If this is the path airbnb is going towards to it will be a fiasco like all the other home sharing platforms. 

I know this has been tested for a while, and the team is not naive, I've noticed photos hidden prior booking and showing up right after reservation is confirmed. I have accepted reservations without a picture, but please don't make EXCEPTION THE RULE. It is much different. 

Please confirm if you have read this, I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 

[Kristina117]

Dear Lizzie,

I feel very unsafe with this new no-photo policy, especially as a host who shares rooms in their own home. I’ve been an Airbnb host for 9 years and have never felt more vulnerable and unprotected by Airbnb.

I’m getting requests from people with no profile information, no photo, and no reviews. I’ve had several bad experiences with guests without reviews.

And I’ve had several users who’ve tried to book using someone else’s account.

I would like the ability to require a government issued ID, recommendations from other hosts, and the state the purpose is their trip before requesting a booking with me. These guest requirement options are currently available only to hosts who have opted in to Instant Book, which, as does not work for me.

I would also like to require that guests have written something about themselves in their profile.

This platform has increasingly become disappointment to me as a host and as a traveler. It started out as such a wonderful way to travel and meet interesting people.

[Sarah977]

@Lizzie  "Sarah, it is really sad to read your post here as this really isn't the case."  

I really don't understand that response. Has even ONE host said they are happy with this new policy? All hosts here have said they are dismayed with this, and feel it jeopardizes their safety and ability to properly vet their guests. Yet that makes no difference. Airbnb doesn't go "Oops, that obviously wasn't a good idea, we should backtrack on this".

[Mark116]

@Sarah977, it doesn't really even make sense that the guests want this, since airbnb managed to become massively successful, with a $30 billion market cap with everyone showing a profile photo.  This was one of the recommendations from their blue ribbon panel hired in the wake of the negative PR surrounding the allegations/incidences of discrimination, it is a massive over reaction, but it does show which side of the coin airbnb thinks is important.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  I don't think it has anything to do with guests wanting it either, and I even have my doubts that it has anything to do with discrimination issues. I think it has to do with Airbnb wanting bookings to roll in as fast and furiously as possible, and the less guests are required to do pre-booking, the faster that goes.