Please make "fragrance-free" a filter

Brian450
Level 10
Tempe, AZ

Please make "fragrance-free" a filter

There is now a HUGE number of people who are fragrance-sensitive or have MCS. I'm one of them.

 

The odours of conventional cleaning products, air fresheners, dryer sheets, etc. make me sick. They give me headaches, burning eyes, feelings of tightness and tingling, respiratory irritation, heart palpitations, nausea, dry mouth and many other symptoms. I've had more than one vacation ruined by fragranced bedrooms that were making me ill. Surveys indicate that about one-third of the population in the US and other countries is fragrance-sensitive or has MCS or prefers fragrance-free spaces.

 

Please AirBnB stop ignoring this incredibly large group of people. You currently have filters for 13 different accessibility features. Could you PLEASE add another one, "fragrance-free"? Fragrance-free properties actually exist, it's just that you can't easily find them, at least not on the airbnb site itself. (Google search can be used as a workaround, but it's far from perfect.) Thanks!

214 Replies 214

@Brian450   You are  missing the point that 'iron' is a specific thing, there is either an iron or not.  Noise, air quality, healthy mattress and fragrance free are subjective.  

Only when you phrase them the way you just did. These things can be phrased much more specifically, and then they become specific and objective. I've already suggested 

 

"no air fresheners used" and "unscented linens".

 

Whether the host sprays Febreze or not, or has Glade plugins installed, is a specific and objective thing, just like whether there is an iron in the rental or not.

 

Likewise, the laundry detergent used on the linens is not a matter of opinion. Is it 7th Generation Free & Clear, or Tide, or perhaps even Fabuloso? These are objective differences, and for about a third of the population, they can make-or-break the experience. 

 

Amen!

Whether a mattress is "healthy" is indeed subjective, but whether it's "certified organic" is not. 

Fragrance free is not subjective! Neither is air quality or a healthy matress 

Yes!!! Kudos to this

 

And we don't need unicorns, we need a business to care about those with medical conditions who need search criteria that recognizes them as well.

well put Brian450.  This is not only about enabling MCS suffereings (and people who are just disgusted by these toxic odors) it's also about educating profoundly ignorant hosts who have never even HEARD of MCS or even CONSIDERED the possibility that their gl@de plugin might be highly toxic, or those scented linens might give a LOT of people headaches. 

 

and then there's fabr#ze .   REALLY disgusting but almost universally embraced as a "clean" smell.  The thing is, there ARE healthy ways to achieve a "clean smell" without carpet bombing people with toxic scents bombs.

 

Sure, most people walk into a room and smell that "clean" frabr#ze smell, and a huge sense of comfort and joy fills their soul, but there is a FAST growing number of us that instantly KNOW that our body is now under ATTACK.  It's no joke once you start learning about these toxic products, they ARE toxic.  People need to know.  Air BnB hosts need to  know.

 

Yes they are WARY of those SUPER "picky" people that don't want to breath toxic chemicals into their bodies all night long, or don't like dog smells, I get that.   Those are seen as the NIGHTMARE guests for many hosts...I get that.  Still...this is a real and present danger for some, and a huge discomfort for others, should these people be ignored completely?  if you can search for places that include WINE GLASSES, you should be able to search for places that USE NO AIR FRESHENERS at the very LEAST.  my GOD those are gross....some people think they are wizards because they BOMB the place with W#zard air freshener, but those chemical actually DO cause neurological damage.  should we PUNISH the most intelligent guests by forcing them to CALL each listing to see if the host is profoundly ignorant of these things?   we also just want to know HOW ignorant the host is, these additional checkboxes would give us a great idea without having to call.

 

NO AIR FRESHENERS USED

UNSCENTED LINENS (with some explanation like: no dryer sheets or toxic environmentally unsound detergent and/or fabric softener)

NO CARPET

 

just those 3 checkboxes would be HUGE for a LOT of (highly intelligent aware) people.

 

and remember, this isn't JUST about helping people find healthy accomadations, this is ALSO about stopping pollution.  Those toxic laundry products are devastating our planet, it's no joke, it's very serious pollution when you are using these toxic laundry products and it goes RIGHT into the ocean in many cases.

 

people need to be taught about these things, and people who are well aware of these things need to be able to avoid them more easily.  This is a thing.  it's a big deal.  It's happening now, it's a revolution, it's the future as more and MORE people wake up to these facts.  There ARE healthy alternatives to this horrible stuff, and make no mistake, this stuff is a HORROR show for your health whether you have MCS or not, and it's also a HORROR show for the planet (big time)

 

go and look at the pollution in the ocean, there are a LOT of dryer sheets floating at sea, so people can pollute their bodies AND the planet at the same time with those!  woohooo.  and all those scented toxic detergents and fabric "softeners" are flowing right into our oceans.  Really a bad situation.  Is Air BnB a bull**bleep** company like most of the companies in the world today?  or can they at LEAST make a TINY effort to help raise awareness and help people avoid toxic exposure to their bodies AND help reduce pollution to the planet.

 

if we have NON SMOKING as an option, we MUST also have NO AIR FRESHENERS USED.

 

this issue won't go away...it's only going to get more and more imporant as more and more people learn about this crap.    Just a few new checkboxes isn't going to kill anyone or start a barrage of refund request, it just isn't. 

 

in fact, if someone sees the "no air fresheners" checkbox has been selected, and then there ARE fragrances, which WILL happen, you will have an unhappy guest but the same is true if they check the "No smoking" box and then you smell someone smoking...hosts should not LIE to people in the description right? 

 

if they are honest, and there ARE no air fresheners used, you will have a win win.  a happy host and a happy client.  as far as disgruntled guests, we just want honesty here, that's all.  Lack of honesty SHOULD be grounds for a refund wouldn't you agree? Lack of awareness is a part of this issue, but if these new "woke" checkboxes are EXPLAINED, then the non woke will at least be able to be honest and at the end of the day... all MOST guests want is simply an honest listing.

 

 

 

 

I think it’s reasonable to have a fragrance free filter. MCS is going up 200-300% per year! 32.2 of the population is sensitive to fragrances. Let’s say you disinfect with lysol, at least make sure it’s the unscented version (I’m sure it’s still toxic) but that can help people with mild to medium MCS. You have freebreze air refreshner in your bathroom. Buy the unscented version (it works just as well) they also have the “air” version that’s scented, but not as heavily scented. Dove unscented soap costs just as much as the scented version. Air purifiers will help with the virus also (probably better than any disinfectant since the chance of getting it from a surface is very small. The CDC said it’s like 1 in 2,800). Pantene has a FF or it might be unscented version. I don’t use any of those products. I shop at wholefoods. But you get the point that you can easily switch the products to the FF/unscented versions. If restaurants accommodate people with nut/dairy/gluten allergies and schools have nut free zones. Why can’t we get accommodated?? You can easily see how healthy a product is on ewg for a health score

I have encountered the same issue as thousands of others that I have heard from have as well. I have also sent you letters requesting this search filter. Some people are in desperate need of safe rentals. You are missing out on a market for these people. Also some people are disabled by this, and need accomodations for this disability.

@Lisa6844   Like most major companies based in the US, Airbnb refers to the ADA for guidance on which disabilities are protected and what features are necessary to accommodate them. So if you're campaigning for systemic change to have this condition formally recognized as a disability, that would be the place to start:  https://www.ada.gov/contact_drs.htm

 

As far as filters are concerned, the list of special needs and preferences that people have requested a filter for is endless, and I'm afraid you're overestimating how effective the existing filters are to begin with. One feature that would actually unite all of these different wishes is a keyword search. Why not lobby for that?

 

Andrew i"m sure you mean well but people with MCS have been trying for decades to get MCS officially and generally recognized under ADA, without success, even though individuals have succeeded in getting themselves recognized.

 

General recognition is not happening anytime soon. An explanation would lead into politics, and far away from the topic of this thread, so I won't go into it. 

 

There is an untapped market here - a large group of people who are mildly to moderately MCS, would like to travel, but can't, or only rarely, with great difficulty, plus people who just feel better when they're not being pickled in Tide, Febreze and Fabuloso.  Businesses like AirBnB don't need to wait for the government's permission to tap new markets and make money.

 

What I and many others like me are trying to tell the travel industry is: please take our money. All we want is air that's not polluted by fragrances. The exact same thing already exists, and has existed for a long time, for people who don't wish to breathe cigarette smoke. We have "smoking" and "non-smoking" rooms in the hospitality industry.  There is no reason why the same distinction cannot be introduced between "fragranced" and "non-fragranced". All it takes is industry power to make it happen.

 

It makes no sense to me why we should have to individually contact and negotiate with countless potential hosts, only to be turned down by almost all, while my neighbor Joe gets to find what he wants simply by checking "BBQ grill" and "Hot Tub".

 

It's true that the needs of the environmentally sensitive are varied, though I would hardly call them endless. If these needs and the corresponding filters/features/amenities are too much for the existing service, then create a spinoff service. How about CleanAirBnB? Again, untapped market. There is no commercial service in existence right now for marketing "healthy" short-term rentals. This needs to change.

Great idea!

VERY well put Brian.  I Love it.  I can't say it better than this.  pretty much EVERY air BnB I have ever experienced was DOUSED with toxic chemicals and FAR from a healthy environment for people OR the planet.  Same with hotels yikes.  It's a toxic **bleep**storm at these places, that's the NORM. and the NORMIES don't even notice or care.   The muggles don't know any better, and they wonder why they have severe allergies..

 

This is a revolution and it's growing FAST, and it's not just annoying old lady health "nuts" anymore...it's young and old alike waking up to these health hazards that are ALSO incredibly bad for the planet at the same time. 

 

This is no longer a small 'freaked out" or "paranoid" niche group, it's an EXPLOSION of people waking up to these truths.  EVERY second someone is realizing, oh wow, that air freshener is nasty AF...wow, I never realized it before!

 

CIgarettes used to be VERY commonplace just like these air fresheners, and were never seen as a health threat, but over time...truth has a funny way of spreading (fast).

 

 

@Anonymous I like your keyword search idea!

 

Also, just fyi, I believe MCS is already formally recognized as a disability in most places in the US at least, however, the ADA doesn't actually have a list of formally recognized disabilities. From what I read on their site, the ADA defines disabilities based on their impact to the individual, but doesn't specify which conditions are disabilities and which are not.

 

This is my main source for my claim about MCS being recognized as a disability: https://askjan.org/disabilities/Multiple-Chemical-Sensitivity.cfm

I don't believe there is a truly "official" list anywhere though. I searched, and this site was the best I could find.

 

I have no idea how the ADA applies to businesses, though. So, I'm not sure if businesses are even required to accommodate. Nonetheless, I feel like whether or not a requirement exists or even if MCS is officially considered a disability is moot. The root of the matter is, will adding such a search function make hosts and Airbnb more money, lol. Happy guests = more bookings = more profits (for the most part).