Can you elaborate though on the exact timing of the exchange? EJ's story makes it sound insufficient:
"Thus by the time this reservation was confirmed and I was given Dj’s email address and phone number, I was on a plane heading East, and he/she was armed with my welcoming instructions on where to pick up the keys to my apartment."
For the rest of it, I'm not saying that the response is inconsistent. I'm saying that keeping information private is inconsistent with safety (which is what EJ's argument was). This is especially true (and concerning) when they say that keeping information private is a safety feature, but it seems everyone thinks its a driven by financial motivation.
It's slightly frustrating when someone says "we do this for safety", but the reality is they do it for money and it reduces safety.
Can you elaborate though on the exact timing of the exchange? EJ's story makes it sound insufficient:
I used to work for an AirBnb clone wannabe, so I can't speak for the exact site itself, but the way ours operated was that you could cancel the booking at any point after it was confirmed- if you do it very shortly before arrival there were financial penalties to doing so.
Of course, if someone sends through a booking for tomorrow, or tonight, you're unlikely to have the time to sufficiently vet them. Perhaps people should be able to say "I need [x] days notice for bookings".
At least on AirBNB you can always decline a (potential) booking, so if you always want [x] days, you can simply always decline if the booking is that soon.
"Thus by the time this reservation was confirmed and I was given Dj’s email address and phone number, I was on a plane heading East, and he/she was armed with my welcoming instructions on where to pick up the keys to my apartment."
For the rest of it, I'm not saying that the response is inconsistent. I'm saying that keeping information private is inconsistent with safety (which is what EJ's argument was). This is especially true (and concerning) when they say that keeping information private is a safety feature, but it seems everyone thinks its a driven by financial motivation.
It's slightly frustrating when someone says "we do this for safety", but the reality is they do it for money and it reduces safety.