My first experience using Airbnb was years ago when I rented an apartment in Paris. The host asked to friend me on Facebook first so she could learn a bit about me and vice versa. It was a great experience.
I am not a hotel. Airbnb is a booking service. Period. Withholding information isn’t part of their job.
Worse, with the exception of @Lizzie, Airbnb has shown no awareness on how dangerous it’s policies can be in the US for people of color.
And now we have to play games to circumvent the blackouts on guest information in private messages. Think about that. A guest sends me a private message and Airbnb deletes or censors information in that message until I approve the booking blindly.
THIS IS LUDICROUS!
Airbnb needs to get out of the way. It should spend more of its time helping hosts by shutting down all the illegal listings and fake hosts.