No, they absolutely did not. This is absolutely not a requirement. It is an option and has been an option for at least 10 or 12 years that I recall.
Your friend asked you for your name and email address to add to the optional line that suggests that you can add a guest’s email if you want so that they are included with the reservation. It is not a requirement.
It is only presented after the reservation is confirmed and paid for, inherently preventing it from being a requirement.
- Either your friend misunderstood the optional suggestion and/or misrepresented it to you.
or
- You misunderstood what your friend told you about it.
I’ve booked a lot of Airbnbs, many just recently and every single time that I complete (and pay for) a reservation I am given the option of submitting the email address of my guest(s) or even someone who might be interested in the trip that is not even going on the trip (e.g. I could enter any email I wanted) but I am not required to enter anything at all.
There is a literal “Skip This” button that can be clicked or the page can safely be simply closed since this option is only presented once the reservation is confirmed and payment is completed.
I am most commonly traveling only with my husband and never ever put his email address in on this completely optional line because we will be together and he will ask me for any information about the booking that he is interested in so there is no reason for his email address to be added to the reservation.
However, there have been a few times when I’ve booked an Airbnb and my cousin and her husband are going to meet us at the Airbnb so I include her email address on this truly optional line. That is because they will be traveling separately from us and from a different starting point than us and putting her email address on the reservation allows her to access the booking, check out the listing for the amenities, look at the pictures, etc and find directions to the listing without me having to send her the information myself. It is merely a convenience that is and has been an option for years.
Although this option is given immediately after confirming and paying for the reservation it is also possible to add someone’s email at a later date as well. Here is the Help article that describes how and why you might want to do that:
As you can see it is not a requirement.
In my experience, only about 15-20% of guests take advantage of this option but when they do I do indeed see their guest(s)’ name and can even link to the guest(s)’ profile(s) if they have one. This is also why you will see some guest reviews that say "from a trip booked by other-name-than-the-guest. Because if you add your guest to the reservation the review for the trip will show on their profile (which is probably why some people use this option, so that their guests get benefit from a good review).
One caveat is that sometimes there is a host that personally requires that all guests be added to the reservation in their House Rules. However, that is a host-specific requirement that the booking guest use this OPTION and not a requirement by Airbnb nor the Airbnb system.