Innclusive's Anti-Discrimination Practices - Sound Familiar?

[Rebecca181]

Anyone who is aware of the home-share platform 'Innclusive', and how it came to be (it started out as a direct reaction to Airbnb's perceived discriminatory policies and practices) will recognize the new (and controversial) 'anti-discriminatory' practices and policies of Airbnb's as being eerily similar to Innclusive's own policies designed to prevent discrimination. Not sure if Airbnb  copied it exactly, but it almost seems like they did. Any of this sound familiar? From the Innclusive website at https://www.innclusive.com/why-innclusive:

Discrimination happens on Airbnb and other platforms primarily through folks seeing the names and photos of guests before accepting the booking. On our platform we remove this opportunity for discrimination by introducing the photo only after the booking is confirmed.

Discrimination happens far more likely on properties that require the host to approve properties first vs instant book properties that a guest can book and be instantly approved. 99.9% of our properties are instant book, and this is by design, so there is no opportunity for discrimination in the first place.

We use technology to prevent a host from denying a booking to one guest and then making those same dates available to another guest.

[Ben551]

@Rebecca181  Hey thanks for sharing that! Very interesting.

[Rebecca181]

I thought so as well, @Ben551, glad you also found this to be true!

[Deborah614]

Hi Ben, 

I've just written to Airbnb:

Hi there Airbnb, thank you for the years we've been partners in the business of connecting private hosts with guests in a safe and secure way.

I emphasis "safe and secure" because I'm over 60, am a woman living alone.

Back in the early days of my membership, I received a booking request from a person whose profile picture was a picture of a red car. There was no information or introduction to that person whatsoever. If a prospective guest looks like Hannibal Lecter, i.e. extremely scary-looking, I'd like to reserve the right to decline the booking.

So now, when I get an "instant booking" from a person whose profile shows a picture of a GOLD FISH, I feel the guest is taking the piss out of me, the host. Why does Airbnb not require guests to play the game? A "profile picture" which shows a car or a goldfish is disrespectful of me the host, and I reserve the right to refuse admission to a guest who rocks up not looking like a goldfish?

What is your view on this?

Deborah

[Rebecca181]

@Deborah614 Makes you wonder what would happen if Airbnb hosts collectively decided to change our profile photos to photos of a goldfish or a red car. Or maybe even to a pic of Hannibal Lecter, replete with the scary brown mouth mask! Think it would effect guest bookings?

[Rebecca181]

@Ben551 I'm finding it strange that I am receiving notifications confirming many thumbs up on this post, but on my end, it appears that the official thumbs up count remains at only '2'. Is this on my end only? How many thumbs up do you see?

[Ben551]

@Rebecca181  on your original post?  I see 4 as of now.  Could it be you are getting them for subsequent posts?  You can tell if it has "Re:" at the front.

[Rebecca181]

@Ben551 Hmmm, not looking like that but I'm sure it doesn't matter. Appreciate your reply and knowing about the "Re:"!

[Caroline31]

I fully understand that in our global world, discrimination has become a hot word, one which is generally produced by fear. 

Nevertheless, when I have guests in my own house, it is vitally important that I not only have a personal photo in order to recognize who I am letting in my front door but also to know the purpose of their visit.  If there is only a cartoon, a dog picture, etc. it is of no help to me nor my guest. It then becomes discrimination  out of frustration of not receiving a true photo of whom I am welcoming into my personal sphere.  Why must we post our own photo for guests to see us, if we cannot see them until after we have accepted them?  We are not hotels or inns who may have security measures in place.  

My guests have come from all over the world.  I have enjoyed them immensely.  Please, Airbnb let us keep this portal friendly and open with basic requests from potential guests for essential documentation and identity.   It has been a rewarding source of income for me, which I would hate to revoke.

[Rebecca181]

@Caroline31  Thank you for your elequent response. For me, the profile photo was important, but I would actually be okay not seeing one as long as I can still ask targeted questions as part of the booking process, which until recently we were able to do if we were using the 'Instant Book' feature as hosts. Also, if I could confirm that the guest had ACTUALLY read my House Rules and agreed to them.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this option of asking questions as part of the Instant Book process has been removed, and we hosts were not even notified by Airbnb that we had lost this ability to gain more information during the booking process. I only recently learned about this 'revision' to the booking process from a post here, in fact.

I also agree with hosts who feel that our profile photos should not be available to prospective guests if ours are not available to them. The fact is, guests also discriminate, so let's just all be honest about that. If Airbnb is intent on copying Innclusive's (obviously reactionary) policies and practices around the issue of discrimination, then it is only right to remove all profile photos going forward - both guest and host photos alike. 

[Mariann4]

And now you just confirmed my question about the IB-question @Rebecca181 . I just had a clickorama trying to locate where I put up my question for my IB and couldn't find it. Thought I was a bit stupid... With all of this no photo, no question ordeal I'm thinking I will remove the IB from my listing. I share my home. I just dogded a bullet with trusting my gut about a new member on the platform (saw the reviews from the host where they DID stay). I don't want to dogde that many. It's tiresome...

Mariann 🙂

[Rebecca181]

@Mariann4 Yes, I must admit when I wrote my post 'Are Traditional Hosts No Longer Valued By Airbnb' over a year ago I had no idea it would be so disturbingly prescient. I spent the last year developing other income streams, despite making about 50K in the 20 months I had my listing active on Airbnb. Now I rent my attached unit out only if I feel like it via my own marketing efforts and other booking sites; given these most recent changes that deny us even the ability to ask questions as part of the Instant Book process, I may not feel like renting my 'shared home' listing out on Airbnb again, well,...ever. 

[Alon1]

@Rebecca181 

I disagree with 'hosts who feel that our profile photos should not be available to prospective guests if ours are not available to them...'

I don't equate the Profile photo with the Verified ID Government photo fit: Passport, ID Card, Driver License, etc.

Rather the profile photo expresses something about the personality, in the realm of the senses (without being too cinematic), etc.

I am more than happy for Guests to see my profile photo, in the hope that it helps them get a sense of my personality, allied to a quite detailed background (which I was encouraged to do by Paul Nugent at Airbnb London in 2012.) -- If at the same time it might discourage some to contact me for whatever 'prejudicial' reason, then I should thank my lucky stars! Much rather they never contact me, then having to deal with a difficult or worse situation on arrival & during the stay. 

In view of the new policy, I would much rather stand my ground then retaliate.

Thus I find Jessica & Henry's suggestion: 'While we're at it, why not limit guest access to listing photos until they have a confirmed reservation?' to be reactionary nonsense. 

Finally, I believe it's sheer folly for Airbnb to believe they can actively challenge discrimination by any policy, which in any case by their own stats from 2016 (posted by Robin in Australia) revealed 'discrimination' to be a tiny fraction of the problematic bookings. 

   Thereby to create a website around this concept may well lead us to reflect on Lisa in Oregan contribution yesterday: 'I love the mission of Innclusive and put my listings on it as soon as I read about it last year. I found that they have great customer service as well. However, in six months I didn't get a single booking and finally had to suspend my listings there....'

Consequently, if anything, Airbnb might do better to adopt the view that what they have done till now has inadvertantly served to challenge discrimination. Meddling in PC is a waste of time & energy and resources. 

[Rebecca181]

@Alon1 I do believe that some of us (me, mainly) are guilty of saying nonsensical, humorous things that are not always to be taken seriously (especially when it is occuring on one of my threads). My comment to Jessica and Henry being a case in point - taking things to ludicrous extremes - all in the name of a much needed laugh amid all of the fuss and muss related to these changes. 

But it is a most serious matter indeed. As I stated early on in this thread, the loss of the question(s) option as part of the Instant Booking process (which I used to confirm guests had read and were comfortable agreeing to my house rules; that there are two flights of stairs, etc) is far more egregious to me then not being able to see a profile photo. So, I basically agree with everything you wrote, above, and I thank you for writing something of sobering value - not my forte these days, it seems! Too much Dorothy Parker?

[Alon1]

@Rebecca181 

Thanks for reply!

I think I can tell the fault-line between serious and humour... at least in most cases. Indeed, what maybe funny for one, is anything but for another. 

   Take for example the following brief exchange between me and another Host yesterday on a similar post related to photo-ID.

   I responded to an Aussie host Rosanna:

Rosanna

Well I decided if I can’t see my potential guests photo till after booking, I’ll take my profile pic off too. Done!!!

- Rosanna still had 2 photos showing: the frontispiece now some exotic fauna, but the latter as highlighted in my response....

Rosanna, 

You haven't really done it, because your second photo of a woman, presumably yourself is still visible.

A Guest just has to click on this second photo.

Rosanna: (private message):

Annoying! I only have the app at the moment so didn’t realize! 

Ty for letting me know. 

Me:  You are welcome.

However, I wouldn't encourage this course of action. I certainly have no intention of removing my profile photo.

The point is rather to get Airbnb to reverse their policy. 

There has been an enormous backlash by Hosts. Whether it has an effect on the powers that be at Airbnb remains to be seen. 

Rosanna didn't reply again. Today I note she removed the 2nd photo, so as of this moment she is just an exotic fauna.

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Personally, I can also see both sides of the coin in a website that titles itself Innclusive, based on a single-issue that according to Airbnb Stats is a small-fry issue, and then has a wonderful layout page as Ange copies, but no one seems to book according to Lisa!