Would you accept guest Without a profile photo?

[Magwitch]

@KenH

I won’t accept without a valid photo – not a silhouette, not facepainted, not their kid or their pet or a picture when they were a baby or a teenager. I want to know that the person I meet at the door is indeed the person who booked my place.

This is one reason I won’t Instant Book – no chance to ‘look over’ a potential guest.

I’m interested to know how foolproof you have found this? Personally, I’ve found that the vast majority of guests actually look nothing like their profile photo - to be frank, they are WAAAY older, fatter, uglier, untidier etc etc when they turn up.
Often to the extent where I have to say “Hello! So which one of you is John?” Sometimes followed by “Ah right, sorry, thanks - yes, two margharitas and a pepperoni, cheers”.
The opposite has happened too,

[KenH]

In our case it has been pretty accurate. The vast majority look like their pictures within a few years/hairstyles, etc.

[Magwitch]

@KenH

In our case it has been pretty accurate. The vast majority look like their pictures within a few years/hairstyles, etc.

Wow, good for you! I have to say I can probably count on one hand the times there is a good match. But I don’t really care what they look like, end of the day, so it’s all the same to me. The day the pizza guy turns up with a couple of suitcases will flummox me, though lol.

[crowntown]

Most of our guests who have profile pics do resemble them fairly accurately. I guess we have been lucky. I will also say that the ones I was most concerned about (no pic, a car, a flower, a cat, a pipe, a beard, an ibis, etc…) turned out to be fabulous. I used to be very concerned about hosting anyone without a pic, but I have found that to be a pretty poor barometer. I do get concerned if they have poor communication, though. Because we live here, I like to feel like I have some sort of connection with the guests staying with us.