Originally Posted by
pinniped
I remember trying to book an Airbnb years ago and the owner wanted a link to a social media account! I was like, no, and they used some similar lame excuse "I just want to identify you". I said I'm happy to show ID at check-in, but they refused to complete the booking without seeing my photo first.
I decided it wasn't worth my time to create a burner account just to appease some racist Airbnb owner, so I booked elsewhere.
It’s not necessarily racism that motivates some owners to make such requests for potential guests’ photos and social media account info, although there is definitely some of that going on too.
When we have the government asking visa applicants for social media identifiers and employers sometimes asking for the same from employment applicants, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that others too have the idea to make such requests.