I have a home in Tucson, AZ, USA that I rent out in the winter because I live overseas nine months out of the year. I have been a guest on airbnb for several years and have booked properties in many different countries, and I never once needed to know the exact address. The green circle is enough for me to get a feel for the area and distance from landmarks.
As a host, I have now been asked twice to reveal the exact location of my home and I did not. I politely stated the reason and educated the person inquiring, at least one of whom was clearly new to airbnb, about the problems with revealing an exact address. I did not know, until today when I read this thread, that people actually reveal the exact address before a guest books. All over the world, not just in the US! I am disturbed by this.
As a female who often travels alone, I don't like the idea of some random person seeing the inside of a home and then being able to find it easily because they know the exact address - and it didn't cost them anything to get it! When a person books a property, they run the risk of not getting their money back if they cancel, so at least that shows they are a legitimate guest. It's disturbing to me that hosts are giving out their exact address when I am often staying alone in these properties, in a foreign country. It's not enough to make me stop using airbnb as a guest or host, but it is enough to make me ask a host if they give out their exact address to strangers before I book their property.
I had a friend renting my home for four months. I don't think she would appreciate me giving out the exact address of my home to complete strangers, especially when one of them wanted to give it to his son who lived locally so he could see how long it took to get to his house from mine! The are of the green circle on the map is certainly good enough to measure distance. Airbnb does this for our safety and THE SAFETY OF OUR GUESTS!
If people are too lazy to walk a few meters or drive 3 extra minutes, then they should stay in hotels. The green circle is not so big that the safety of that particular area cannot be judged.