There's a difference between hotels (which have limited damages guest are capable of, which are insured against same, and which have protocols for handling these issues) and somebody renting out a room in their home/apartment.

Remember, you're effectively inviting over people into your home. Your safe space. Your nest. It seems really, really weird that somebody would do that without at least knowing what the person looks like.

And that's before you even get into the security issues of having to blindly trust AirBNB (or somebody claiming to be related to AirBNB) that this rando is authorized.

If you aren't comfortable renting your home to random people then don't use AirBNB, plain and simple. Buy a second home for commercial purposes and AirBNB rent it out instead (and if that gives you pause then maybe you should reconsider the whole idea of being a small-time landlord with AirBNB).

And if you are renting your home with AirBNB and _don't_ have some type of commercial rental insurance or coverage through your main policy you are skating on very thin ice. Even the nicest looking person in the world could ruin your place, or at the very least hurt themselves seriously in your home and bankrupt you with a massive liability lawsuit. If you aren't ready to be a landlord and abide by their rules, regulations, etc. then don't rent out with AirBNB.

> If you aren't comfortable renting your home to random people then don't use AirBNB, plain and simple.

Why? Says who? You're coming up with this strict concept of what AirBnB must be, but I see no reason to agree with you. It's as absurd as saying "if you aren't comfortable giving a ride to a hitchhiker with a rifle on his back and a blood-stained shirt, then don't give a ride to any hitchhiker."

AirBNB is claiming to be exactly that though - renting a spare place in someone's house. It doesn't claim to be renting commercial properties or a hotel. (As such it can't guarantee that the owners of houses won't be arseholes)

Look past the disruptive startup hype and read the fine print, AirBNB absolutely is warning you to abide by all local laws and regulations. If they didn't do that they would be open to big lawsuits. At the end of the day your insurance company, a judge, etc. isn't going to buy the excuse 'but AirBNB didn't tell me I couldn't rent without x, y, z...'

Airbnb has insurance and acts as an escrow for this very purpose. This is what part of their fee is for.

I also rent my home out on VRBO, a competing platform. It is very similar to Airbnb.

This is a transaction based on trust. Random people cannot stay at my house. They need reviews and need to be properly vetted.

College guys looking to party can go to a hotel instead.

this is why the whole business model of airbnb is flawed, their whole business model consists of doging regulations, quality and safety standards, and fair treatment requirements that any usual business is subject to. Same applies to uber.

Vacation Rentals have been around for a long time longer than Airbnb. In fact, there is nothing unique about Airbnb at all except it is more usable.

I do have regulations in my town, and they are a nightmare. The regulations only benefit hotels by discouraging people from renting out their houses or rooms.

If I let people into my house I want to see them and decide whether I want to let them in. As far as I remember airbnb requires pictures. Maybe they shouldn't do that and let property owners decide whether they want to see a picture and reject people without.

And what useful information does a picture give you that helps you decide whether to let a person in?

Do you check ID at the door? No. You make sure it matches the picture.

Property owners sometimes interact physically with the guests. Given that fact, there are a lot of reasons why the property owners should be able to see pictures of the guests. Being able to visually identify that the person you're interacting with face to face is in fact your guest, is a critical safety measure.

Why do they need to see the picture before booking? If they only want to know what the guests look like to recognise them in person when they arrive, Airbnb would only show the picture after booking.

If Airbnb required and stored pictures they could be used to identify them in case they trash the house.

I can't think of anything else the property owners would claim to use the profile pictures for.

Would showing the picture post-booking only really help, though?

I admit that I'm not familiar with the booking process on AirBNB, but I'd be really surprised to hear that a booking, once completed, can't be cancelled. Wouldn't the same people cancelling reservations now just cancel them post-booking instead?

Consistently reneging on bookings, though, is a strong signal, coupled with reports of discrimination. It's much easier to brush off before hand.. "oh, our plans actually changed, so we can accommodate you.

(granted, this can still happen, legitimately, even in a post-booking display mode.. but post-booking cancellations could be a signal for flakiness and, overall, a reason to put hosts on notice that they need to shape up)

It could be done just before they are about to arrive. There are many ways to make sure people are not discriminated on Airbnb and the time it would take to implement those changes would most likely cost less than the bad press they are getting.

Even if they don't care about people being discriminated against they could at least think about the loss of potential customers.

Wouldn't an ID check or similar on arrival be sufficient?