Age Discrimination and new Air BNB Policy

Julie286
Level 1
Mobile, AL

Age Discrimination and new Air BNB Policy

Today I received the e-mail regarding discrimination from AirBNB, stating that all hosts will have to agree to the following:

 

"We believe that no matter who you are, where you are from, or where you travel, you should be able to belong in the Airbnb community. By joining this community, you commit to treat all fellow members of this community, regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age, with respect, and without judgment or bias."

 

I have no problem with any of the items except for AGE, as we don't rent to guests under 25.   I read through all the report briefly and don't see where they address age further into the policy, so I'm wondering why it's in this overall "oath" that we are to sign this Fall in order to continue renting.  I am hoping someone at AirBNB will see this and reply.  Thanks!

 

51 Replies 51

Thanks for showing me where it says you must be 18. I didn't find it in the non-discrimination policy where I thought it should be but now see it is under "terms of service".

 

Why didn't Airbnb say that in their response which I posted? ("This is regarding your inquiry about any specific rules that Airbnb have that will not allow people ages under 25. I am sorry but we do not have any Rules that correspond to your request").

 

All they had to say was you can't rent under 18.

I agree @Rosemary12 The wording and answer is badly written but probably done by a rep who's english isn't his native tonque.

 

I asked the community about guests under 25 when I couldn't get a sane answer from Airbnb. Thanks to all of you who pointed me in the right direction.

However, this morning I got an email from Airbnb which I have copied below.

I responded saying that the community seemed to know the answer, how come he didn't? I also requested that my email be forwarded to management and that if I didn't hear back I would be calling their Head Office. What is the point of having a Help Desk if they don't know the answer and just shut you down?

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Jules M, Aug 13, 03:03 CDT:

Hello Rosemary,

This is again Jules from Airbnb.

I completely understand your point, but there is no policy that would back up your request as this will violate the Non-Discrimination Policy of Airbnb. But we will take it into consideration about your suggestion.

For now, I will be closing the case since I was able to explain to you everything.

Please let us know whether we can still be of help.Thank you for reaching out to Airbnb Customer Service, we are here for you whenever you need us at www.airbnb.com/help

Looking forward to your response,

Jules

The saga continues....this morning I received another response from Jules at Airbnb after I got back to him and said it took the community to tell me that you have to be 18 or older to book:

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"Hello Rosemary,

This is Jules from Airbnb.

I apologize for the confusion. In my understanding, you are not allowing people under 25 years old to travel on your listing that is why I told you that this might fall under non-discrimination Policy that Airbnb have.

Airbnb is a platform that can be used by people who are 18 years old and above that can make a reservation and Host a listing.

I am just sending you this email to follow up on our conversation and open up a channel of communication where you can contact me if you have any queries. I hope we were able to resolve everything together over the phone, but if not, just respond to this email and I would be more than happy to give you a callback!"

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Firstly, I never said that I would not allow anyone under 25 to book (I had actually told him that I was currently hosting an under 25 who was a great guest) and secondly, he never phoned me as he indicated.

That did it for me, I phoned Airbnb and asked where the help desk was situated. Turns out they use 11 different countries to answer our emails! Makes sense, since "Jules" English was less than stellar!

Mercedes was very professional and agreed that Jules should have known that the policy is over 18 when I first asked and I suggested that they ensure that their staff knows how to respond to hosts. Having emailed  several times over the past 4 years I am often frustrated by the lack of satisfactory explanation to a host question....we all know the response about not charging for children under 2!!

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

In theory, yes the guest needs to be over 18, but I have had enquiries from guests who have managed to set up Airbnb accounts but have told me themselves they are aged 15 or 16 and not travelling with anyone over 18...

Laura244
Level 2
Truckee, CA

I have just received a request from a mother who wants to book my apartment for her son and his girlfriend. It is the son's 18th birthday. This is her gift for him. I really don't want to rent to anyone under 25 but I see that I have no choice anymore to impose that restriction. I do however think that if the party that is renting the apartment must be the one staying there. Thoughts?

Third party rentals are not allowed, flag and decline.

David

Hi Laura

 

This is Airbnb's policy on renting to another party:

Personal travel

We require Airbnb reservations booked for personal travel to be booked by the person who's going to stay at the listing.

 

I would tell them that he has to be the one booking and while you are waiting for him to be approved (which he probably won't if you require Govt ID etc).If you don't you might want to change this.

I avoided this awkward situation by telling a potential guest that another guest had booked these dates while this was in process.

Absolutely! Renting for someone else means literally anyone coyco end up at your house. Convicted rapist? Someone hiding out? How would you know?

I am concerned because I've been approached by a young lady that want's to rent my house for 16 people for their senior trip... high school senior trip.  Can you tell me if I am responsible if these kids bring alcohol into my house and throw a big party...if cops are called, if anyone gets hurt, etc?  I would like to rent to them and trust that they will act responsibly but this really  concerns me.

@Sabrina-and-Joe0

 

ABB is not a suitable platform to take such a booking you need a Security Deposit and the responsible adult to make the booking.

David
Janell12
Level 2
Silverton, OR

I would suspend my account except I can't access my listing to do so. I can access every part of my account except that. Very suspicious. I can't deal with the new rules. I'm a single female and renting under the new terms, I feel, puts me at great risk.

I am afraid I will have to leave also.  They are way out of line.  Try VRBO   You can now do a similar arrangement to AirBnB ot a flat fee for the which is way better for me

Esther367
Level 2
Toronto, Canada

I recently had to ask a guest to end her stay early as she was getting into violent arguments with other guests. Days later I received formal complaints from Airbnb of gender discrimination. That I had discriminated against her because she was female. Since then they have disabled my account and also erased my review from the guest's page. She is the one who stole items from my house (she even cut the shower curtains in half before leaving), made other guests extremely uncomfortable, ruined my reputation as a host by writing false information yet I am the one getting punished.  I generally do not rent out to both genders. I have long term tenants (both male) sharing the common space with the room dedicated to airbnb hosting so in order to accommodate all guests and make their stay comfortable, I continued to rent out to male airbnb guests as not everyone is comfortable sharing bathroom with opposite sex. I happen to rent it out to a female guest this time as her request was only for a month and both sides agreed that they were okay sharing the common space. Unfortunately this decision led to disastrous outcome. Not because of her gender but due to obvious character flaws. Now based on the fact that I do not generally rent out to both genders at the same time, I am labeled to have discriminated against females. 

Hi Esther

What an awful experience for you!  I would not let this go with Airbnb. I can't see how they consider this discrimination since you accepted her as a guest!  I am a single female and share my home with guests. I haven't denied anyone based on gender and have taken males and females but Airbnb say you don't have to take someone if you are uncomfortable and a female host may feel uncomfortable having males in her home. I don't see this as discrimination but a safety issue. Bottom line, it is YOUR home and you should be able to decide who is there.