Host discussion on racist guests

[AussieSojourner0]

I'm wondering if there is a pre-existing Discussion board where other hosts discuss troubleshooting racist guests ?  and also the policies of not allowing such guests to leave unfair reviews.  For eg I know I'm a good host and many guests give me 5 stars but I recently had a guest, that I suspect is racist, and they couldn't even look me in the eye when talking to me.  They gave me only a 2 star - which is completely not in keeping with how other guests regularly give me mostly 5 stars - this is very unfair.  Not only do we as hosts have to withstand the indignity in real life - the racist guest is allowed to perpetuate the indignity by leaving a bad and unfair review.  As a non-white host, this is one my reservations - that I'd have to host a racist ... 

[Jeet0]

Absolutely ridiculous and unfortunate!

I'm not aware of any pre-existing discussions on this topic but what you can do is:

1) Has the guest written a positive review and yet given 2 stars? In this case please message them via Airbnb asking for more feedback with relation to their rating. If the guest replies and has something really logical and constructive to say which you hadn't thought of before then probably the rating isn't biased.

However if the guest doesn't respond and if the written review is positive, you can contact Airbnb and mention that it is probably a wrong rating given by mistake or maybe a biased one. sometimes Airbnb helps to clear such ratings and reviews.

2) In case the guest has written a negative review then try to understand if is is valid on not. If there is any false claim then again, please get in touch with Airbnb and have it cleared.

Good day @AussieSojourner0 and happy hosting 🙂

Jeet

[AussieSojourner0]

in a situation like this it is best to contain the situation and not let the ill intent spread - the guest arrived disgruntled and with prejudices and did not communicate through the trip - avoiding eye contact and other body language which I can deduce had to do with racial prejudice.  Its best in a situation like to NOT interact with the guest any further beyond the AirBnB portal and simply request that AirBnB delete the review - so as to not allow the unpleasantness to leave its mark.  In effect what such guests do is vandalise the wall of the host - in much the same way as if your home was vandalised with a slur.  

[AussieSojourner0]

I found a discussion and some search results but you'd have to put " "   "racist guest" to find specific results as theres a lot of discussion recently about racist hosts but not much coverage about hosts who experience racist guests 

https://js4.red/r/AirBnB/comments/36jdiw/L/crerdpy

[Anna1440]

The anti - discrimination policy is for racist Hosts not Guests...

[Adam-And-Charity0]

I’m a new host and have a similar experience. I’m white but live in a gentrifying part of Brooklyn that is traditionally Caribbean, Crown Heights. It’s a mixed neighborhood these days and i love my Carribean neighbors. Guests left me a 4 out of 5 on accuracy and said that i should have notified them that it was a neighborhood that wasn’t gentrified. I was taken aback from that comment. What am I supposed to say that people of color live in the area??? That’s not cool and that’s what Brooklyn is all about, Diversity. I have hosted numerous people of color and it would be insulting to them to assume that guests need to know the ethnic makeup of the area. I refuse to change my listing. I reported it to Airbnb and they said it didn’t violate their policy. 

[Prue0]

A white friend of mine has just posted on fb about how horrible it is that her guest turns out to be racist.... she didn't know what to do- i will suggest reporting him/her with specific examples in the review in the bit that doesn't show so if they get more like it they can ban him/her

[Lizzie]

Hello @Prue0,

Aw this is sad to hear. Please can you tell her to contact the Airbnb Support Team so they can discuss this further. You can pass on this Community Guide on the different ways to reach them. 

Thank you,

Lizzie

[David126]

Most people are fine but inevitably you will get a few who are not. I have never put that down to racism, how do you know it is because they are racists rather than weird or having a bad day?

[Olivia-and-Olivier0]

hi David, you are right: racism, especially when done "professionally", is so hard to prove. Sometimes people are so "professional" and have long-experience with doing this so smoothly, that you can almost never prove with clear facts. You would notice if it happens more often when your house-mates, spouse or anyone else in that household is non-white or has a different accent than typical anglo-saxon English. I wouls say sure, most of the times you won't know 100%, until your house is vandalized or you lose your life, in which case, still lawyers can claim insanity or "reasonable reason that the perpetrator feared for their life." Sad but true, this issue is never binary, as 0 or 1 in the computer's world, thus it is hard to prove, but you would recognize it as a gut feeling. And of course people can still insist it is only "your impression".

[Anna1440]

Sooner or later they will express their racist prejudgges especially when provoked.

They will blame the other person and mention features associated with certain race or nation as a cause of all problems.

I agree - racism is very sensitive case and often extremely difficult to prove.

But not impossibe.

[Danila1]

I've looked for such a discussion board also for advice following my experience with a guest which had me thinking where would I stand had the matter escalated and their offensive comments persisted.

I had a guest who was openly racist by responding to my news of a new addition to our multi-racial family with deep commiserations and much head shaking and comments along the line of "we are being taken over and the world is going to rot". This I addressed immediately saying I disagreed and explained we considered ourselves very fortunate and enriched in having cultural diversity. My comments were not acknowledged at the time, even so I felt I did address the offensive behaviour head on and no more such comments were made in the days to follow. It was offensive enought for me to mentioned it to Airbnb following my review of the guest.

If the guest behaved as they did with AussieSojourner then it would be much more difficult to address. No eye contact, avoidance etc. and they can't tell you what the problem is ... then most likely the person has an issue with you.

If this behaviour happens to me I will ask the person if they have a problem with their stay, if there is anything not as they expected to let me know and that I will do my best to deal with it. I would definitely mention the odd behaviour to Airbnb and describe it as it occured and say that it was peceived as very anti-social and unfriendly, possibly racist.

I feel for you AussieSojourner as you are opening your home to guests of all persuasions, and judging from your previous reviews you do this very well. An ignorant and mean spirited person treated you shabbily. Let's hope Airbnb take note and fix your star rating. Either way I don't think viewers of your listing will let one low rating turn them off.

Best regards,

Dee

[Olivia-and-Olivier0]

I am glad you brought this up, because so often there are no hard facts about racist atitudes, people being discriminated strive so much to make things better, try harder, adress all issues, but each time it seems to be "almost there, but not enough". The crazy-making game is also part of the racism strategy.

Very few people are openly racist and saying or doing obvious things, the "sophisticated" ones are so smooth about it (i hate to use the word sophisticated, but they belive themself to be that way, in the end it's just using education and political corectness for a wrong cause). However, there are body-language cues that speak louder than words and all humans can perceive that, no matter what a lawyer argues in court.

I would say, save your mental sanity, once in a blue moon there are bad apples, but majority of the guests are open minded and very interesting. I would add: being openly who you are, unapologetically, and asking guests at the check-in time if the place is right for them, might save you some time and grief.

There is so much we can do about who we are... while we strive to do better and better as housing quality, if guests do not like our cultural heritage and etnicity, we can just wish them the best, and hoping life will give them whatever they need, and hope their children will expand their mind. I am sorry that anyone made you feel this way, and don't let this change the beautiful welcoming and kind person that you are, because there are so many other people who would benefit from your services and kindness!

[Jing24]

I had similar experience laterly the guest refused to pay(asked for fully refund)  after I showed up checking her out. I don't know what should I do. 

I think this doesn't make any sense when you stayed in other people's home and you don't want to pay anything. 

[Olivia-and-Olivier0]

yes, true, @Jing24 , and that is so unfortunate. I will handle this situation in the future by saying to the guest, when they are asking for the refund, that I will call Airbnb to check on that and all will be dealth through them. Because I felt that if I promisse i will refund them (before they leave my house, to make sure they won't damage anything, in anger, before checking out) it would be unethical to then, say I will not refund them. Yet, I spent my time, and resources (electric, washing machine, etc) to clean the room, bedsheets and give them a room - that they were not happy with-, but regardless, it costed me something, to provide that room for them. I don't believe it is something to do with the room, sometimes they just feel superiour or have racist mentality, perfected by impecable political correctness.