It is the way it must be done because it is the way that is most beneficial to you. I agree that it is not ideal but if I list on HA/VRBO then I must work within the system they offer. I do not accept bookings that are not a good fit or that are not within my policies. You are correct, it is not their problem and they don't care if you don't like the system. HA is a business, they are not about caring they are about making money. I know it is hard to adjust when things change but it will benefit you to search through this forum to get some insight on how to manage your listings without compromising on you policies. 

We have no say in what the criteria is for PP, that is for HA to decide. I will have to disagree with your statement "A high acceptance rate only shows the partner has no criteria or standards that need to be met. There is nothing premier about low standards." 
A high acceptance rate can be achieved by doing as I suggested previously, without compromising any of your policies. Many of us here on this forum have a high acceptance rate that certainly doesn't mean we have no criteria or low standard.

But being a Premier Partner has nothing to do with standards if you are a Large Property Manager. We still have properties on Panama City beach that are "Premier Partners" with lousy or in fact zero reviews.

edapostle, I'm going to assume by this statement, "A high acceptance rate only shows the partner has no criteria or standards that need to be met. There is nothing premier about low standards,"  that you are just frustrated and venting out your frustrations.  I'm sure you did not mean to insult the many PP's on this platform, myself included.  And fortunately I'm not one to get easily offended, so I will take it as I am assuming it was written, out of frustration.  

That being said, this isn't Twitter, or Facebook.  This forum operates as a very well run community.  We exchange ideas, we help each other, we vent when necessary, or sometimes just because we feel the need to.   I've certainly done my share of venting, including on the very subject of letting Property Managers have their entire portfolio as  a PP, when half their properties might be junk.  Fortunately enough of us complained about this that it is finally being fixed,  as greggt and margaret mentioned.   But what we DON'T do is make blanket comments such as the one above that kind of throws large groups of people under the bus, nor do start a multitude of threads making  blanket comments about homeaway support being absolutely useless, or make comments about where they are from, etc.  We've all had our share of frustrating calls, and when I am in a call that seems to be going nowhere I either ask to speak to someone else, pretend to be fine with the answer but call back and shop for someone more knowledgeable, or I just keep pushing the CS rep to stop a minute, stop reading from their screen, and really take the time to listen to the question and try to understand it. 

I don't think HA/VRBO is deliberately in the market of "deceiving potential renters..."  I think it was more that they didn't fully think thru ALL the possible scenarios of giving Property Managers PP status across all their portfolio.  They know now, because their owners told them (some of the very people on this forum, including me), and now they are working on putting the p oop back in the goose.  Or the cats back in the bag.  Whichever.

My point is, many on this forum love to help, myself included.  And we'd be happy to help you with anything we can.   But if you've ever been on a forum that's nothing but a giant B&!%^ fest it's no fun, and it chases people away pretty quickly.  That's not the forum homeaway_community_manager cultivates here, and for that we are all very thankful. 

I am a PP with 100% acceptance among my 3 properties. I happen to think it is not because my "standards are low". Maybe I am just lucky.. or my house rules are very clear, and restated in so many places in my listings that last time I had to decline someone ( was due to under age) was before  they started counting declines. One other time a gentleman was tying to book for way too many people and I asked him to cancel which he did.  Now I may have just jinxed myself but to get below 70% acceptance rating.. maybe there is something not clear in your listing description, rules or even rate settings that causes people to request to book and you to have to decline them. Just saying.