Language and discrimination

[Anonymous]

When hosts seek advice about how to screen guests and anticipate how a stay will go, I always say that the best indication is going to be in the quality of the correspondence. This is especially important for in-home hosts; not only do you want to know that they comprehend your listing text and rules, you also need to be able to communicate effectively with them throughout their stay. An initial request that conveys no useful information can be a bit of a red flag, but sometimes a follow-up question is enough to put the conversation on track and make an educated decision about whether your listing is an appropriate fit for the guest's needs.

But how do you handle a guest when they insist on writing to you in a language that they have no logical reason to assume you speak?  And when they don't seem to understand your follow-up questions? 

My instinct in these situations is to decline, because I'd rather have a vacancy than risk a stressful situation or uncomfortable misunderstandings. But I fear that doing so could be interpreted as discrimination; even though language is not a protected category, you could say it overlaps with nationality. I'm struggling to find an inoffensive way to tell someone that I'm uncomfortable hosting them because they're too hard to communicate with. Any thoughts?

[Alon1]

@Anonymous 

In theory it shouldn't happen since the website uses Google Translation.

In practise, among the nationalities I've hosted, I found the only language which doesn't come out coherently in translation is Korean.

  However, fortunately, a few years ago I had a couple of very nice families stay with me for a while and we became friends. One of them was raised in the USA so her English is perfect, and whenever I need, I just message her for translation.

The problem has been on a couple of occasions  that the Korean Guest has not admitted their lack of English, which comes to the fore on arrival.... At that point we resort to sign language! Still they were easy to host.

I've never disengaged because of language.

re. Declining in general.

I don't know if you do Instant Book? I don't, so declining is considerably simpler, especially if it's just an Enquiry. No need to Decline. A Reservation Request is more tricky, as I Initially politely suggest that Guest Withdraws Request. Mostly it works. 

[Anonymous]

@Alon1  I don't use Instant Book, and don't intend to ever use it. Too many times in the past, I've accepted requests from people who didn't seem to have paid much attention to the listing, which led to guests having the wrong expectations and being disappointed with their stay. And of course that meant taking a bit hit in the ratings/reviews. At this point in life, the small amount of income my guestroom can generate is not worth having uncomfortable experiences with unhappy travelers. Living in close quarters means this is also a social experience, so when I get a request I'm really looking out for the guest to demonstrate some enthusiasm, some confidence that they can truly enjoy the experience I offer.

Airbnb's fixation on star ratings also has some influence here. I'm not one to have a meltdown over every 4-star review, but my overall ratings dramatically improved when I started screening out the guests with poor communication. 

I can see myself accepting an auto-translated request if the person seemed genuinely excited and understanding of the listing. But more often than not - especially when the language has a different alphabet - the translation comes through as complete nonsense, perhaps due to misspellings or grammar issues. I also find it rather thoughtless on the part of the speaker to not at least make some effort to make sure their message can be understood but perhaps the idea has emerged that Auto Translate eliminates any need to attend to the basic functions of language.

[Lisa723]

@Anonymous I'm not sure it's necessarily thoughtless on the part of the speaker/writer. If you have no languange in common, what should they do other than assume the automatic translation that Airbnb provides is working? We have had a repeat guest from Japan who speaks barely any English, and I don't speak any Japanese. Communication is definitely time-consuming and error-prone, requiring multiple confirming/clarifying messages, but they are a very polite and considerate guest. But, I don't share any spaces with guests.

[Anonymous]

@Lisa723  When I need to write a message in a language I'm not fluent in, I use the reverse-translate function to help draft it and find the words and sentence structure that translate back into what I intended to say. When I'm satisfied with how the back-translation looks in English, I'll send the recipient the version that's already in their language, along with a note similar to what @Sarah977  mentions apologizing for any errors. 

This comes somewhat naturally to me because when I first moved to Germany I spoke very little German, but still had huge amounts of bureaucracy to navigate. I don't know if it's something people who aren't used to multilingual environments would consider doing. 

[Lisa723]

@Anonymous I see. I may start doing that; it never occurred to me. It would be nifty if Airbnb did that automatically to show you how your message might appear on the other side.

[Lisa723]

@Anonymous ha, I gave it a try with our post-booking message:

The name of our listing "Newt Wash Wildlife Ranch" became "Newt Wash Wildlife Lunch."

More seriously,

"Your booking constitutes agreement [to house rules], so if anything presents a problem, please let me know so we can arrange a penalty-free cancellation for you"  became "Please note that the booking is based on agreement so if something goes wrong you can arrange a cancellation without penalty."

[Cormac0]

@Anonymous 

You'd better hope Donald Trump does not request a booking, or you'll be completely bambozlaed by his language and he purports to speak English.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  Bit of a tough one. Living in Mexico, I get Mexican guests who often message me in Spanish. My Spanish is passable, but certainly not fluent, so when I get those requests, I do message back in Spanish, but apologize for my imperfect Spanish (after all, I'm living here, it's not like they are expecting me to be able to read Chinese). Every time, so far, the guest has messaged me back in English which is far better than my Spanish (and obviously not a Google translation), saying they have no issue with communicating in English and reassuring me that my Spanish was perfect (they're just being nice, it isn't). 

But if I got requests in say, Japanese, and they weren't translatable in a coherent fashion, I guess I'd message the guest again, letting them know that I didn't seem to be able to translate their messages in a way that would make for clear communication between us, ask if they had any suggestions for overcoming this, and if not, suggest that this might not be the best listing for them as clear communication between host and guest is essential for a mutually agreeable booking.

Have you considered asking Airbnb what they suggest in such circumstances, explaining to them that their auto-tranlate for some languages seems to result in gibberish?

[Anonymous]

@Sarah977  Your approach sounds fair. Some very pleasant bookings have started with a bit of back-and-forth before accepting. But if I reach the conclusion that my listing is probably not the best for them, I'm still a bit concerned that they'll send in the hounds for discrimination.

As a non-IB host I'm not able to use a pre-booking message, so I have the following text in the listing, now awkwardly shoved into the House Rules:

Hi, thank you for your interest in our home! In your request message, please tell us a little bit about your travel plans, and confirm that you are aware that your guestroom will be in a shared apartment, with a dog on site.

Most of the time (68%, according to the stats) the guest addresses this in their first message so I can be pretty sure they read the listing. When all they say is something like "I'll be there at 8 AM" I feel pretty sure they either didn't read the text, or they couldn't understand their translation.

"Have you considered asking Airbnb what they suggest in such circumstances, explaining to them that their auto-tranlate for some languages seems to result in gibberish?"

This is a relatively new problem, and it's been years since I directly spoke with an Airbnb insider. They're just using Google's translation software, so i don't think that's something they have the means to improve on. I'd expect them to take a dim view on hosts declining, and maybe sprinkle in some sunshine about how great it is for hosting to build bridges across cultural divides etc.. I guess I'll find out if they get a complaint.

[Ange2]

@Anonymous   

To make it simple (and easily understood by Airbnb CS)  I send the guest a message translated into their language, which demands a response to questions, rules etc.  If the guests do not respond that is my reason for declining, not discomfort with language barrier.  Airbnb has become all about jumping through fiery hoops!

If the guests do not respond I send  a message similar to this : 'I have not received a response from you to my last message.  If you are still interested in staying here please respond. If I do not hear from you in xx hours I am sorry but I will have to decline your reservation (to avoid being penalized by Airbnb).'

I also stripped down my language to accommodate the limitations of online translators, I am working on doing the same in my listing. Of course this can seem brusque because it strips out pleasantries and distills a sentence to basic necessities. To mitigate that I start off with an explanation of not being able to speak their language, please excuse me, thank you. Most guests understand and don't get offended by the lack of polite phrasing, but one or two do and think it rude, ding, ding, ding- there are always outliers.

I have also changed some wording that doesn't translate well, it really helped.

e.g.   'I live here' instead of shared space. Shared space can have some strange translations and implications that I am sure most hosts do not want to encourage such as @Robin129  's  "Captain Underpants".

Same for 'please clean-up after yourself'.  I changed that to 'please wash your dishes',  'please leave the bathroom and kitchen clean',  please blah! blah! blah!, because clean-up after yourself  is sometimes translated as clean yourself!—a horrifying rule.

This approach has worked  quite well for me and Airbnb have accepted non-communication / no response as valid reason for decline the once or twice I did it.  On a side note,  I have found people whose language I do not speak, ( I accept all of them if they respond)  to be more respectful and considerate in relation to guests who have a smattering of language. The latter are often harder to deal with, they think they understand everything,  and thus can make erroneous  assumptions.  I had that recently - 3* ding.

[Robin129]

A guest must have enough understanding of the host's language as to be able to understand and adhere to the house rules. "Captain Underpants" was the first, and so far last, guest of mine that had little command of English. He did not communicate via message at all and was totally not ready to be in my home. It can also be a safety issue. 

How will ABB interpret it? Probably as discrimination, because nothing they do lately seems to be logical. 

[Anonymous]

@Robin129  Well...their primary concern right now is getting sparkly numbers for the IPO.  I don't see the quotidian concerns of traditional hosts being served by the logic in that program.

I agree there is a "Trust And Safety" issue involved here. I don't make guests jump through lots of hoops, but it doesn't seem too much to ask that people make a little effort to earn our trust before we hand over the keys to our homes.

[Kelly149]

@Anonymous I think it's true that ABB sees all declines as potential discrimination. I think you have to be just as vague as they are, so in your case you're declining because their communication is "incomplete", "vague or "not a good fit". These are so subjective as to be inconclusive and therefore difficult to argue about.

[Roberta2]

Hi all

Yes, language can be an issue, both ways. My last guest gave me compliments on fast communication, left me flower, and on the same review, gave me 3 stars for communication because I did not speak French.

I reached out to Airbnb, and they gave me the same excuse of "it is the guest perception, so we will not remove the review".

Very frustrating.