Fake Accounts

[Kevin384]

I've been hosting for about 8 months now and have had nothing but great experiences from my guests that have stayed in my extra apartment.  I have, on occasion, had people inquire about staying at my place with, what I feel, were every specific scenario to discriminate against them.  They would send me a message with specific infomation regarding their race, religion, sexual orientation, service dog needs, etc.  I think every scenario has been covered.  I obviously, obliged by accepting their requests, but none of them ever booked a reservation to stay at my place.  I'm beginning to think "Airbnb" uses such profiles to set you up or test your integrity... Anybody else experience this?

[Alexandra316]

@Kevin384 No, but I did have someone who stayed with me who I believe who was from Airbnb or another agency checking up, because they mentioned 4 of the things you mention above, then ended up presenting with none of them. It was a bit odd. I'm not going to get into any more specifics to preserve the person's anonymity. I'm not sure why else they would have done it (unless they were conducting their own study). They did stay and they were lovely, one of my best guests ever.

It could be Airbnb, or it could be another formal or informal study. It's happened before. Students from Harvard did it to check for bias against people of colour. I know that it's been a hot topic for Airbnb in the last couple of years, so maybe they are checking up.

[Fred13]

Just as plausible is that 'others', besides Airbnb, are also very interested in having you fall into their 'discrimination trap', your "integrity" not being their foremost concern, but perhaps money is.

[Alexandra316]

@Fred13 You could be right. I have heard that some Airbnb hosts are being sued due to "discrimination": not allowing children in their listings. Whether the suits are successful is another story, but still an inconvenience and possibly cost.