[lbn]

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.

[Millennium]

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?

[tobz]

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)

[lbn]

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.