Discrimination & Racism

[Rehan-and-Maria0]

We are Airbnb hosts as you can see in our profile. Yesterday our friend suddenly text us that she is coming to Stockholm for the weekend. Unfortunately our apartment was full & we tried around dozen listing to book in Stockholm but except one all other turned down our requests mostly saying our apartment is not available although in their calenders it was available. We never refused any single request regardless of who is our guest. We were really disappointed & eventually we booked a hotel as the only offer we got was too far.
Is it common or someone else felt the same?
We are open minded in all respects & one can read our reviews & interaction with guests.

Regards
Rehan

[David126]

I think there are a lot of people hosting on AirBnB who do not look upon it as a business and at short notice especially will only take a booking if it suits them and also do not update their calendar.

Did you look for somebody using instant book?

[Sandra126]

It is possible that they do not keep their calendars up to date, and last minute is often a problem. You have not mentioned why you think it was discrimination?

[Rehan-and-Maria0]

Hey,

It was not last minutes as there was one day to the booking. I feel they read the profiles and declined. I feel its discrimination because my other friend from EU send request to two hosts and both replied with yes to him....In my case its just declined without any message in most cases. Instant bookings available were bit far for us.

Thanks for reading my message.

Regards

[Sandra126]

Sorry Maria, still don't get it. Is your friend green/black/in burka/gay/red/yellow/what? Or was it your own profile that you used? In which case, if you say ''booking for a friend'' most hosts will decline as it is against policy.

[Rehan-and-Maria0]

AIBNB allow us to add the person who will accompany so it was booking for two and i definetly describe my guest and would definetly add any details hosts need. Am i wrong? Host can even tell the reason and booking can be done from another account if indeed required. Thanks for your time.

Regards

[Sandra126]

Hej igen Maria, jag fattar fortfarande inte. Varfor tror du det var diskriminering?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

You are still not making this clear: was this a third party booking. Were you booking for other guests? This would mean most hosts would refuse as they are not protected by host guarantee, etc. \

Or were  you staying in the accommodation too?

[Rehan-and-Maria0]

I was going to book an accomodation for myself and my friend. I would have loved to share any info needed including any Ids. Is it normal to click decline without reason. Normally i replied every time as host even i had instant booking on.

If you send request to same host with different people with different origion , names etc and first is declined while second is accepted what would you feel? Just saying.

Maybe its by chance but i just put a question to know.

Regards

Rehan

[Sandra126]

ok. if you used your own profile I can see nothing that would cause anyone to decline. Unless you said something odd in your intro message?

[Taryn4]

We had problems with just a few days to a week in advance booking as a guest (however, not as friend of a guest or guest of a friend) in Netherlands and Belgium last summer. 

I didn't take it as discrimination (but we're as white as they come- husband is from Iceland, I'm as pale as a ghost), we were older than 27 and not looking to party, thought we seemed just as nice or not as nice as any other couple. High or low demand periods can affect the response/acceptance times so we booked a fancy hostel. It sucked and was stressful. Wished we had found a accepting host or truly had given ourselves more than a week to plan. 

In our city (Austin TX, USA) we don't descrimiate but we have to decline for various reasons (guests didn't fully read our listing and didn't seem like a good fit, we messed up and had too full of a house, it was too last minute and we were sloppy the day before, etc). 

I get so nervous and very upset hearing that others feel that they are being descriminated against. I truly hope that is not the case but I also hope those who simply are not accepted are also patient with the process. Hotels dott com is awesome (and is what we use) for last minute bookings. Not as many people are as easy going and accepting last minute (or ALMOST last minute) as you are. Some have kids/dogs/old folks who live with them and it takes more than a day to clear the cheerios/milkbones/soft foods. Keep doing what you're doing. 

Happy and Safe Travels! 

You and your friend are always welcome in Austin! 

Taryn 

[Rehan-and-Maria0]

Thanks,

You are welcome in Stockholm too. I understand your point but most of the listings were independent. I said discrimination because a friend sitting beside me texted to couple of hosts and he got a yes but mine was declined although it maybe by chance. I will never say anything weird as i am an experenced host and i respect everybody. Lastly about 7-8 hosts still never replied after two days but i don't think Airbnb takes these seriously.

I hope Airbnb would develople an option for late booking so people wont be able to send requests to hosts who are unable to provide last minute hosting.

Regards

Rehan

[Stephanie6]

Hi @Rehan-and-Maria0, I have had some bad experiences with guests who live in the same city who booked my apartment.  Therefore, like some of the hosts who declined your request, I would prefer to accept a request from a guest visiting from another city.   Sorry!

[Rehan-and-Maria0]

Everyone is free to accept or decline & i can't change your perception. Even if i agree with you still if both requests are from same city and you decline one while accept the other that's indeed discrimination & maybe acceptable for you.

I hosted more than 100 trips so no guest should expect anything bad from my side since i know the troubles of hosting. Maybe you are right for new guest but we can't generalize it & i would never decline an airbnb host since he know more than a normal guest.

BR

Rehan

[David126]

I had assume that it was your friend who was booking as I do not see much in your profile that would lead me to thinking discrimination was the case.