Discrimination of hosts

Jacob231
Level 9
Copenhagen, Denmark

Discrimination of hosts

Dear Forum and Airbnb,

 

in the debate about lack of profile picture, I would also like to express as a host (and traveler) my strong unsatisfaction and disagreement with the socalled new policy of Airbnb, which in fact is a step back for the community. Unless of course, Airbnb, is now aiming to become a new Booking.com with anonymous strictly commercial transactions, which I hope and doubt is the case. A community without a face is not a community!

 

Is there any public statistical documentation and thorough analysis of discriminatory cases against guests, and, for that matter against hosts? That would be essential for the discussion, and would probably show that the issue in the debate is mostly going one way, in favor of those (few?) guests who have felt that a decline of a request was based on discrimination. How to prove that anyway?

 

However, hosts are being discriminated against by weighing concern for the guest higher. Taking away one of the main features of an user account - the profile picture - is giving the host fewer tools in managing her/his listing. This is not fair.

The profile picture is part of the user's general profile and way to communicate with the world. Just as the other features like Other Verifications, CV, Reviews, Etc. are part of the profile. It has nothing to do with criterias of  'judgement' per se, but are basic - and essential - features to make a complex system like Airbnb work smoothly. The idea of  introducing extra functionality buttons and request methods to ask for someone's profile picture, is making simple things complicated - and unnecessary.

It also creates a negative vibe in that, instead of welcoming a guest, hosts now need to ask for formalities that in fact should have been taken care of by the facilitator Airbnb, and should have been transparent from the beginning. The 'new' policy will also potentially create invalid and fake discrimination cases due to potential declining of a request after a booking has been confirmed. There can be X reasons of why a host needs to decline or cancel a request. We are not a hotel with staff, bodyguard, and a big insurance company at hand.

 

Airbnb enhances an open free world by connecting people from all continents, based on sharing economy, not on discrimination. So why discriminate hosts?


Best regards,

Jacob [Surname hidden] 

88 Replies 88
Daphne70
Level 8
Montagu, South Africa

Couldn't agree with you more. I really hope that Airbnb reverse this policy soon. Those of us hosts who rent out a room or a guest suite attached to the home we live in need to see who is wanting to book our accommodation. It's a very personal experience to open your home to strangers and not entirely without risk.  I realise that a photo does not tell you whether a person is going to be a difficult or bad guest but it does help to make the transaction more personal and strengthen the connection we make with the guest. 

Well said. This policy is making me reconsider hosting on this platform. We should know as much information upfront. These are our homes.

Linda-And-Richard0
Level 10
San Antonio, TX

@Jacob231As hosts, we have the right to know as much as possible about who is coming into our homes.  Guests get to see everything about the host.  Guests can read our reviews, see photos of our property and ourselves.  If I book my property to someone, I want to see that person is the same one that is checking in.  This is not Motel 6, this is my home.  This is NOT about discrimination, it is about safety and security. 

I agree absolutely it is frigthenng to not be able to see a photograph of the guest.  After all the guest can everyting about us.  

Patricia1711
Level 3
Isle of Man

I joined Airbnb as a host and a guest because of the value system it represented - the whole world is a community. As Jacob, above, says, it is in danger of becoming another Booking.com and i am increasingly disappointed.

 

Adriana100
Level 10
Pitts, PA

I think that ABB did this so that a host couldn't reject a person based on the color of the skin. This is stupid! The names would reveal the race or ethnicity of one person so they actually did nothing to eliminate the racism, but created a problem for the hosts. I for example don't feel well about people who have no pic, or have a dog or landscape as their profile pic. If I accept and then I see they have such a pic I can't cancel, can I?

@Adriana100 I'm not sure where you got the idea that someone's name would tell you their race or ethnicity, that seems quite naive. I know people who are dark-skinned Mexicans who have Russian last names because of some Russian great-grandfather, for instance. There are people with Arabic first names who may be from Germany, Canada, or South America, simply because their mother liked the sound of that name and named her baby that. Etc, etc.

I don't think this policy has anything to do with discrimination, I think they are just saying that. I think it has to do with it being effortless for guests to book.

I object to the no profile photo policy because a clear profile photo indicates openness on the part of a guest who expects me to share my home with them.

I like a photo so I can recognise them when I meet them. I sometimes play a game too - "Guess the personaility from the photo - I am invariably wrong! You can't judge a book by looking at the cover, as the saying goes.


@Sarah977 wrote:

@Adriana100 I'm not sure where you got the idea that someone's name would tell you their race or ethnicity, that seems quite naive. I know people who are dark-skinned Mexicans who have Russian last names because of some Russian great-grandfather, for instance. There are people with Arabic first names who may be from Germany, Canada, or South America, simply because their mother liked the sound of that name and named her baby that. Etc, etc.

I don't think this policy has anything to do with discrimination, I think they are just saying that. I think it has to do with it being effortless for guests to book.

I object to the no profile photo policy because a clear profile photo indicates openness on the part of a guest who expects me to share my home with them.


 

Oh, at a second thought you are right. It's just I've never experience that. Aka... all my guests with Indian sounding names were indians and the ones with latinos names were latinos... but I see it is quite possible the other way around. I also think you are right about the photos. Yesterday for example I got a guy whose face in the pic was covered by his laptop. I could only see his eyes. So he was a brand new guest. I approved him and only then I saw that his pic. I dont like guests who have no clear pic of themsleves, let alone pic of their dogs etc... what was I supposed to do? I couldn't cancel. ANd guess what? He broke my bathtub faucet! Called the plumber today and I am going to bill him.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Are you serious, @Adriana100...you can guess a person's ethnicity by their name? Now that's a skill. 

yes, I can guess... it doesnt mean I am right!

Adriana, for clarification, are you saying that currently you do cancel on the basis of there being no image of the guests themselves? 

...and why not? Are you saying that because Adriana would like to see who is booking, that is in some way descriminatory? Correct me if I am wrong, but most governments require a form of visual (and with quite specific criteria), identification in the form of a passport before they allow you to enter their country do they not? So what is so deeply disturbing to you about requiring a profile picture before you allow someone into your house?

I am going to stick up for@Adriana here. Extensive studies have been done that show that job applicants who submit a resume are more likely to get called back if they have a ‘white’ sounding name. Discrimination is definitely attached to a persons name whether the assumption is true or not.