How would you reacted if ... ? Would you be afraid of a negative review?

[J-Renato0]

We know that Airbnb does not allow to pick guests! You can not discriminate, and it is a positive attitude.
How would you react as a host if your guest arrived and you noticed one of the following peculiarities:

Not necessary to say that, this topic is about humour, however it has to do with actual issues that some hosts has faced.

1- The guest arrives wearing a Save the Earth-Climate Change t-shirt!
2- The guest arrives wearing a red M.A.G.A. cap.
3- The guest arrives wearing t-shirt with the picture of an Antifa logo!
3- The guest arrives wearing a t-shirt with a combined picture of a rainbow and Priscila the Queen of Desert film picture!
4- A guest arrives wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Bob Marley smoking weed!
5- Lets suppose you accept pets and the guest told you he/she would be arriving with his pet. When  arriving he/she is wearing a t-shirt with an animal defense movement logo and carrying proudly a huge piton snake.

Recently, I saw a topic about a guest who wrote a negative review becouse he did not like a dvd-movie that was available in the listing.

From my point of view, the best thing to do to avoid unecessary issues and not to trigger a reaction on some guests (that has diferent views from the host) is to provide a neutral enviroment to the guest.

Meaning, It is not necessary to share your political orientarion or others personal preferences with the guests by forcing them to see some types of statues on the shelf, controvertial pictures hanging on the wall, very controvertial books and so on.

My reaction would goes like this. I would not care for the guest´s appearance or preferences.

As long as they accomplish with the house rules and be a good guests, I would avoid making comments.
As for pets, I like dogs and birds however in my listings I do not allow any type of pets. Smoking is not allowed as well because of the smell.

So, what would be your reaction?

[Debra300]

@J-Renato0,

People in the Caribbean also love the music of Bob, Jimmy, Bunny, etc., but that's not the same as accepting the Rastafarian religion and lifestyle. Every culture in the world has a prejudice against "the other".  For those that can't discriminate based upon race and sex, we humans will still find something to degridate some aspect of another group while singing, "One Love".

[Sarah977]

I've had the thought that it would be great if someday all humans were eventually so mixed as to the color of their skin that no one was immediately identifiable as to their racial heritage- that it would eliminate racism. But then I remember that, as you say, human nature seems to be that some will always find a way to pigeonhole people and see them as "other", whether it's because of the way they style their hair, the way they speak, the clothes they wear, etc, etc.

@Debra300

[Ann72]

@Debra300  I love your straightforwardness in all things and this statement breaks my heart.  I feel anger but a violent reaction feeds hate and that's the last thing we need more of.  Thank you for being you, an amazing person I'm lucky to have gotten to know.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Debra300 , Interesting your hair is a flag for haters where you live! in my small town, it wasnt anything visual that caused me to be a target of buttheads and bullies in my youth, it was being an outsider, my parents were born and raised in the big city 50 miles away and I wasn't like them, even the only Dark skinned classmate I had whooped up on me nearly weekly!!!!   Crazy huh?

Isms are everywhere, people that want to hate carry isms wherever they go and try to sow them like Johnny Appleseed.   @Sarah977  may be right, until we become a world of mongrels (I consider myself a Mongrel American), many isms will prevail.  The end of isms will come from the end of perceived purity of most kinds, that's happening more each day but probably not fast enough for humans that can only live on this planet one lifetime. 

As a young child, I was taught and learned to never judge a person by the color of their skin but by their deeds.  Unfortunately, skin color is only one of the nasty isms that humans perpetuate, so many others persist, many are not visual at all.   Its actually demographic silos of "different peoples" that keep isms alive and well by pointing out obvious diverse characteristics instead of the common place where all humans can live together in relative harmony (see golden rules).   When we say one life matters more on any given day than all lives, we strengthen those silos and separate ourselves from folks that are far more like we in most ways than different.   I know I wont see the end of isms in my lifetime but I'm proud to say I have been part of great change during my one short lifetime.   I sleep well knowing I will leave this nation and planet in a better place than when I arrived even if its not the one where silly people who judge folks for their haircut are like T-Rex, history!   Stay well Debra!!!!!  JR

[Debra300]

@Melodie-And-John0,

After 15 years of wearing locs, I cut them off last month, because I felt that I needed new energy in my life.  I had gained a considerable about of weight due to menopause and last year during the pandemic.  At the end of the year, Keep Cool and I both got somewhat worrisome reports during from annual medical exams, and we knew that it was time to put down the comfort food, eat a more plant based diet and return to getting more exercise.  Since December, I am down more than 25 pounds/11 kgs, and Keep Cool, who was always slim anyway with a 29-30 inch waist, now has to cinch up his pants.

I grew up in a military town, which traditionally are some of the most diverse in the world, and had friends, neighbors and schoolmates of multiple ethnicities and various backgrounds.  Plus, we had a big influx of Bay Area transplants looking for more affordable housing and smaller town living.

People have become so comfortable with their prejudices, and it's much easier find others who are like-minded.  In this time of social media, and the general publics willingness to embrace ignorance and disregard critical thinking, demographic silos are fostered and prolific even in communities where the population appears highly diverse.  I was literally in tears when I saw the condition of the senior Asian/Asian-Americans who have been attacked and beaten, and the women who were killed in Atlanta in recent news reports.  These types of attacks and killings have always occurred, and legal discrimination for citizenship was in place until the Immigration Act of 1952.  Unfortunately, the news is slow to really focus on the true amount of domestic terrorism that is perpetuated by those who fit the stereotype of what a good citizen should look like.

As always, my assessment of a person's character will remain colorblind, indifferent to sexuality and gender identity, uncaring of religion (unless someone tries to church-shame me), and irrespective of financial and social status.

[Melodie-And-John0]

First @Debra300 , congrats on your body refit, it sucks to grow older but the options to do otherwise are highly limited!   You should feel proud of yourself and Im guessing your doc will be very happy to see that change as well (your health is both job security and compassion mixed on a docs part)!   

The violence that is rampant in select communities against those with Asian heritage takes on different forms in different circumstances and is not universal in nature.  The unimaginable recent attacks on the Massage parlors by a brain damaged freak (deserving of a speedy trial and execution) probably speaks more of women being enslaved in billion dollar industries that thrive below the surface on the underbelly of scumbags more than Asians being singled out and murdered.   So many women (and men also) of all races are killed, abused and virtual slaves of Pimps and Freaks that treat them like possessions.  They have zero protection they can ever expect from the law and end up trying to hide their activities from the only people that could save them from evil people.    Our "Sin" laws shelter bad people for virtues that don't help people ensnared in its claws.   

The Military theme also runs through my veins, 21 years in the most diverse fighting force in the world helped round out my early Martin Lutheresque human being training from Mom and other Adults in our family (and being raised in an all Female household took care of other gender learnings that are useful in 2021).    That said, there was and is racism and sexism in the military and the Robinson household by most measures then and still today.   What I can say without hesitation is this isnt 1965 and while we are far more tuned in to pick up on either today there is much less of it going on than a quarter century ago.  We can and must do better but we can never forget where we came from or risk it l becoming a destiny long forgotten, stay well Debra.  John

[Dimitar27]

I have a t-shirt with a picture of Bob Marley smoking weed. 🙂

And a cousin who brought a python from Cambodia. He participated in a UN mission there.

But if I go back to hosting in 2022, my calendar will be definitely closed for the dates of "Sofia pride" (some kind of annual gay parade or festival) .

[J-Renato0]

Hey  @Dimitar27 

I see you are a 90% open-minded host! 🙂

To complete 100% all you have to do is to open your calender for the festival!  🙂

Greetings from Brazil! 

[Dimitar27]

It's an open air festival.

Drunk people, drugs, parties ...

Many local hosts are closing their calendars when there is such an events nearby. It's too risky.

[Ann72]

@J-Renato0  I am not on site and like @Emilia42 I don't actually want to see most of my guests, so I don't have one of those doorbell cameras.  I want them to feel they are at home, completely comfortable, relaxed, and away from their daily lives with no one breathing over their shoulder or judging their choices.  When I have been there and have met guests I always think they're so interesting and just great.  I think it's far easier to be judgy when looking at a photo than when meeting a living, breathing human being.

[J-Renato0]

@Ann72  

Sure, I agree with you. That is why we both are superhosts!  We make them feel comfortable 🙂

[J-Renato0]

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[Katrina79]

@J-Renato0 I judge people based on their actions not their T-shirts 😂 

Even then, I’m pretty open minded when it comes to making judgements. I try to maintain empathy so that I can “walk in someone’s shoes”. 
As far as making everything a completely neutral environment in your Airbnb that is boring. I’m not responsible for somebody else’s tastes, feelings, thoughts or opinions. Guests always have the option to put things out of sight, take down a painting, don’t read the book etc. 

[Anonymous]

@J-Renato0 When I travel, I often choose Airbnb over its blander competitors specifically because it offers more non-neutral places to rent. It's all part of the experience of exploring a culture, to get this little window into how people in the neighborhood really live, and see how a stranger's passions and histories are reflected in the details. My ideal place to stay is one that feels so specific that it couldn't possibly be anywhere else.

I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, but I still think it's a pretty big niche. For years, my guestroom has been accumulating a small collection of socialist-realist art, including some vintage Soviet and North Korean propaganda. I wondered for awhile if some visitors might find it ideologically confrontational, but thus far they've all recognized it as an aesthetic theme, or even an added dimension of the experience of staying a stone's throw from the old Berlin Wall (which isn't much to look at in itself). 

Of course, if my target market were business travelers I would have made different choices.

[J-Renato0]

@Anonymous 

Yes, those looking for homestay and also entire space are looking for an experience where they can have more contact with the city and local culture. Even if a room is not themed, the guest may have a taste of being a local.
When I say neutral, I do not mean that it has to be a purist modernist architecture, clean and unadorned, impersonal, like the so-called international style.
I mean "neutral" in the sense of not having controversial things that can trigger negative reactions in some guests.
A personalized place with art is always cool. I would not avoid booking your listing because you have socialist-realist art. As what you have said, in Berlin this can be interesting.
When I was planing a trip to Germany, I saw your listing and others, however yours it was booked for the dates I needed. I remember seeing a picture of Che Guevara in your listing. Actually I think that young people do not know of this guy.
Berlin is a very interesting city. Eventully, we stayed only in hotels for a couple of days. When there, we stayed in 3 different districts, not too close and not too far from Alexanderplatz and Potsdamer Platz if you consider the transport system. It gave us a comprehensive view of the city, transport options and so on.
Merry Christmas and happy new year.