Uhh - I came ready to blame Airbnb as I no longer use them. However - you obviously can’t do third party bookings and if a host has had third party booking issues (Airbnb will not cover these at all) I think hosts will have a very negative reaction to a third party booking.

Maybe blame Airbnb for not being clearer, but the profile photo / ID verification stuff is designed for the guest.

Do people do third party dating or car reservations etc?