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They like the feeling of being in control.
So few of my guests look like their picture that I find it pointless and it feels like it’s related to discrimination. So while I have a clear picture of myself I don’t feel comfortable with hosts who insist on it unless they share space with their guests.
I just stayed with a host with a picture that didn’t show me their face and the name was gender neutral. It was a great stay.
Ask, & you’ll get some dorky selfie!
Dorky selfies don’t annoy me nearly as much as photos people post of themselves, taken by other people, with their phone in hand taking a selfie. You see that online all the time these days, it’s a common pose for “celebrities”, instagrammers, and other non-entities whose only talent is self-promotion. It looks so stupid.
I bet what you’re seeing are mirror selfies
You wouldn’t even ask for a pic? 
No, because they aren’t facing the mirror. They are standing sort of sideways, a phone in their hand in front of their face and looking at whoever is taking the photo, or a camera on a tripod.
Yes, that’s what I meant. Is that a mirror selfie? The phone isn’t in line with the angle of the photo.
I had to laugh- just got a booking where her pic was a lovely flower. I didn’t ask for another pic!
Well let’s just hope she’s as lovely as the flower. 
This isn’t exactly what you’re talking about, but I recently had a guest who, after I accepted the booking, displayed a name that was just her first name plus an initial. This might sound petty, but after I know the actual name of the guest I usually do a quick google search. It bugged me so much that she didn’t actually display a last name that I considered cancelling the booking. I didn’t, of course, just told her that my policy was that I needed full identification including her full name, and she complied. I do think that it should be policy that the full name, plus of course phone number, should be required to lock in the booking.
I know some hosts do Google searches to check on a potential guests. I don’t, and even if you had my last name, you wouldn’t find any info on me with a Google search. I don’t participate in any social media. When I said once before that no info on me would be found, another host assured me he could find things on me. I gave him my last name by private message, and he tried, but all he came up with was an old business address from 7 years ago
I would hate to think I was somehow suspicious and should be declined because a host couldn’t find out anything about me with a Google search. I hope our world hasn’t come to that.
My longtime facebook profile photo is of Bella, (Our Dog) in her custom swim life jacket for boating! Most guest profile photos are very hard to see, as they are very small, and I don’t care what they look like anyway. Heads in beds!!!
I can’t blame a person of color if he/she uses a dog photo or changes their name to a WASP name. There are lots of hosts who discriminate.
That’s why I don’t put any photo requirement on my instant book settings. I get lots of non-white people and I’m happy to take money from whoever willingly offers it.
I get that, but in fact I have also read posts by guests of color, gays, and other demographics who may get discriminated against, who say the opposite. They post a face photo, or a photo of themselves with their same sex partner because they would much rather get declined out the gate by a host who is prejudiced than to arrive only to be met with bad vibes. They also don’t want to unknowingly put money in the pocket of a bigot.
haha, SAME. 4 years ago when i was in my late 40s and still looking ok…
Personally it’s because I home share and I like to make sure the person who books is the one who stays with me.
It’s just one more layer such as making sure all guests have photo ID that makes me feel comfortable about having strangers staying in my home .
As some one who was completely scammed by a scammy third party booking - discussed on this forum on a number of occasions - I like to make sure that the folks who book are the folks who show up, but I also do my own extensive Google searching. Whether they provide a facial profile photo almost doesn’t matter because I can almost always find their photo.
@CatskillsGrrl A very petty point—meaningless, really—but I just noticed the irony of your profile picture for this forum. 
Ooh! Ooh! Google Me! For some reason there a many folks with doctorates and lots of publishings that share my name. Including a lady about my age that has done some great gene splicing research. None of those are me, but if you google me I sound really impressive.
