LONDON
Guest Profile Photos Why did Airbnb change their policy on seeing guest photos before booking?
Male1 >> To me, the idea of not showing the picture of somebody
we are about to host and invite into our own family
goes right in the face of what we are trying to do as a community.
And it's to me a very clear indication
of the choice of taking the commercial aspect
as more important than the community aspect. Because if you are not –
Male2 >> As a person with this skin colour
and I've had many many guests come to me and say, 'Dennis,
the reason why I chose you is because I knew
that I would not be rejected because of who I am'.
And I think it's really really important
that Airbnb maintains its position on this.
There's a very very good reason why it's been instilled
and I don't want that to be lost. Audience >> I agree.
Male3 >> My question was, would you
or a Jewish people feel comfortable being hosted by a Neo-Nazi?
Male2 >> But I don't think the two things are the same
and that's the point I'm making here.
I don't know whether you're a Neo-Nazi just by looking at your face.
But if you look at my face, you know exactly who I am.
Yep? And that's the difference.
Female1 >> We're shown a photograph once they've booked
which is now happening because I won't let anyone
into my home unless I can see what they look like.
It doesn't matter to me.
Female2 >> Just one observation. So let me just pause and make one observation.
So it's really hard to have conversations about discrimination
but I think it's really important that we acknowledge that it exists.
And I think as a company and as a community, we have a choice.
We could either say – and I've heard hosts say this too –
'I don't discriminate. I'm not racist. We shouldn't do this. It doesn't happen'.
Or we could say, look, this is –
we are a community. We care about people belonging.
And then we engage in conversations which sometimes can be high-energy
and they can sometimes feel controversial and uncomfortable.
These topics do raise a lot of emotions for all of us in different ways.
But my point of view is, like, let's talk about it and let's have the conversations
and let's engage because if we don't engage, then we ignore it.
And then there's a number of our people of our community
who just don't feel welcome and that is not okay.
So thank you. I don't mind the energy. I think its more important that we –
thank you for bringing it up. I appreciate it.
Just very briefly, we talked a little bit about the why,
which is that there is discrimination on our platform
and so there are many guests who just don't feel very welcomed
and they get declined far more often than other people.
And we've tried many many things to close what we call "the acceptance gap", and
in fact, removing the profile picture until after you've booked
has been the one thing that made a very significant difference
and it was a very significant difference.
So there was a very good reason behind doing it, a very noble reason.
That being said, it was – like, hosts hated it.
And I was told the story, I've read pages and pages of negative comments about it.
And so, we talked about there are a few things you can do as a host.
So one, you can require to see the photo afterwards.
Secondly, you can obviously ask for verified ID.
And third, if you are a female host or a host with small children at times,
you can specify that you would only like to have female guests.
So those are a few things that you can do
but the broader point I take away is twofold.
We haven't resolved everything yet, right? So hosts still
want to feel safer and they want to have more information about the guests.
And the second is, it – like in general, this is the biggest sentiment.
Like, you guys want more and more and more information about your guests.
We are giving you less and less and less.
And this was just another example of taking that information away.
So we still have – I wanted you to know the why,
because I don't feel like that communication came through very clearly.
So it was for a very good reason, and it has had a very positive impact
to helping many more of our guests feel like they do belong when they travel.
But I completely hear the hosts' concern about it and I take it very seriously
and we meet on this like several times a week
to try and make sure that the concerns that you've raised are ones that we can address.
So thank you, Gina. That was amazing.
[Applause]