Great reporting Kalboz!
Slightly off topic. I have a last-minute trip to Europe through several cities. Obviously a lot is booked at this point. I found more availability of desired lodging with airbnb than I did VRBO.
I am not sure whether it is for select properties or general airbnb policy, the ID requirement. Airbnb wants an official ID uploaded as well as a webcam selfie. I will not upload a non-redacted official ID. Obviously glad to share my clear full name and pic, but I will not share any information beyond that. I made 1/2 dozen attempts to upload a redacted ID and the webcam selfie, to no avail. Each time it was not accepted. I finally got a live support person who told me that she could not see the uploaded documents nor could see the specific reason why the ID was not accepted. Finally, she listed about 1/2 dozen reasons why this happens, and redaction is a known issue. (I guess everything is evaluated by a bot somewhere.)
For an airbnb property in Paris, I e-mailed with the host and told him I'd be glad to show my passport upon arrival. He told me that the ID requirement was airbnb's and not his.
I successfully booked two VRBO properties without any bureaucracy.
I certainly understand that an owner/manager wants to know who is checking in, but I have no faith in big tech to do the right thing with my personal data. Maybe not much damage can be done by having your passport data, but a lot of damage can be done, at least in the US, with your driver's license data.
(As an aside, I am taking my nephew on this trip. I met him and my sister at the T-Mobile store to discuss international usage of his phone. The T-Mobile rep would not discuss anything until she had scanned both sides of my sister's driver's license. My sister promptly handed it over to the rep. I asked why this was (vs. a call to customer support). Rep said the 'computer' needed to know that the rep did not 'fake' the ID check.)