New Discrimination Policy

[Liam9]

On Airbnb's new descrimination policy, Bloomberg reported the following: 

Hosts will be prevented from listing a unit on the same day if they previously told a prospective guest that the property was unavailable, a step aimed at discouraging them from unfairly vetting customers. Airbnb will also urge hosts to let guests to book a unit without being screened, through a new feature called Instant Book.

I disagree with this policy.  I rent an entire home in a beach town. I will often deny party's because of lack of referrals - I don't want a new customer to come and throw a party at the house.  This is an issue for places like beach towns. I had one prospective guest that had no referrals, whose photo was just a "Play Like a Champion" banner. I don't want to rent my house to someone like that. That's not descrimination, that's common sense. Now I'd be denied from having my place available for those days?  I care about referrals, and that is something Airbnb does not let you vet by. 

Liam

[John353]

>such as bringing an assistance animal that is necessary
because of the disability, or using an available parking space near
the unit. 

Interesting - the main reason I do not allow animals in my house is to keep the rooms habitable for persons that are allergic to pets (dogs, cats, snakes, etc....).  Which disability should you really be planning for?

[Kelly87]

I don't think allergies to animals are conisdered a disability, and a properly cleaned room should present no problem in any case. 

[Sandra126]

My reason for not liking IB has nothing to do with cherry picking guests, it is all about not wanting a cancellation record. Guests ask for unsuitable things I cannot accommodate quite frequently (toddlers, dogs, one night weekends mostly). And when I say  ''ask'' I don't really mean that, it is more of a statement:

''The children look forward to visiting''. Errm, no. Sorry. As a host you look inreliable with a string of ''cancelled by host''.

[Jiw0]

Children and dogs you can still disallow in your rules.   And when guests break your policy then you can cancel them without a penalty although I would agree that's a LOT of hassle and just a lot more aggravating experience for everyone involved.

The one-night weekends though I think you can set in the availability settings.  (Not sure how much work that is but it can be done, with very granular minimum-stay settings.   (I actually recommend to put a longer minimum stay for bookings far into the future, and then for the current month and the next you can reduce it to fill up gaps, but then not for weekends; something like that.)

[Audrey54]

Is there a minimum age requirement for guests? I do not wish to host a group of immature high school students. 

[Sandra126]

@Audrey54, I believe you have to be 18 to have an account. With the new policy, I doubt you can decline the young guests but I have yet to read all details. Will it be sent to hosts along with the training we are about to receive? So far I have been sent nothing whatsoever and only know about it because of the forum.

[Jiw0]

You're in Australia right.. I wonder if the e-mail has only been sent to USA based hosts? (Plus maybe some other select countries?)

I didn't receive it either, an American guest told me about it who did receive the e-mail.

Maybe someone should tell a person in AirBnB host relations that they're a global community? 

[Sandra126]

@Jiw0, I have noticed that some changes only hit certain regions and other hosts have no idea what you are talking about. As for the message, I will wait. I am sure we will get it at some point in order to be all equal!

[John480]

The letter appeared on our Air BnB Start Page,  ( I think theyre too cowardly to send them in email... they FORCE YOUR DECISION, jusat to scheck your listing.... They wouldnt let me get to the dashboard, until I addressed it...

Douchebag company just created a divide...  Equal opportunity under THREAT... Oddly, while brealkking and or circumventing every City, State and Federal law they could.... while spending TENS OF THOUSANDS of out innocent commissions, to do so.

Santa Monica and San Francisco should take this page from their playbook and force it upon them COMPLY OR GET BANNED !

[Lynne2]

From the FAQs   What about hosts in other parts of the world? Much of the focus seems to be about the United States.

While the detailed guidance is focused on users in the United States, the policy and essential principles of inclusion and respect apply to all hosts in our global community.

[Jiw0]

Once they're adults it is possible that you'll no longer be able to discriminate based on age.

I say possible becuase this is not 100% clear yet.   From the report it says that AirBnB will block dates when you decline a guest saying that the dates are not available.  Then those days will be blocked to any other inquiries too.  

However, it could be that you can still decline a guest using the option that 'you're not comfortable' with the guest.  That may not result in a block.  It just means you have to be more blunt and can't white-lie about availability, you'll have to just tell them you don't like them. 

However... I'm not positive that age discrimination is a sensible thing to do anymore than race discrimination: surely not all young people want a place to party, drink and do drugs right?    Personally if you're concerned then I would flat out ask them, saying that you've had trouble with noisy parties in the past resulting in neighbors, police etc getting involved, so if that's part of their plans then they should look elsewhere.

Personally I've had lots of lovely people in really every age group. 

[Benjamin87]

Dear Airbnb,

as I understand it, Airbnb is giving me 48 hours to comply with a different set of regulations than those that I agreed to when I signed up with Airbnb.

As a host, should I not comply with the new regulations, I will lose bookings that have already been made, months in advance.

This is extortion, and for many reasons.

Legally, Airbnb is re-writing the terms of contracts, i.e. reservations, that have already been made. This is illegal.

Additionally, as a host, who is letting strangers into my home, I reserve the right to not accept persons who I feel might be a threat to my safety. I understand that Airbnb wishes to be seen as an open platform for everyone, however we are human beings and I reserve the right to decide who I let into my home.

Although I sympathize with the intentions behind the new regulations, I do intend to comply with them, as the new regulations have overreaching consequences into my rights as a host. Furthermore, Airbnb is forcing the new regulations on its users, before it has been confirmed if the new regulations are in compliance with various national laws.

I urge you to rethink this new policy, as you will lose me as a host and as a guest.

[Sandra126]

@Benjamin87, if you wish to address comments to Airbnb, write to the FB page as this will not be seen.

[Amy38]

The Fair Housing Act exepts resident owners of small apt buildings and those renting rooms from regulations preventing discrimination.  It is called something like Mrs Murphy's rule.

I do not see how Abnb can force us to abdicate our legal choice unless everyone just rolls over and plays dead...there are lawyers in this world.  

I willingly host any race, creed or sexual preference guest , but there are guest I refuse for other reasons and it is myright.

[John480]

they are doing it UNDER THREAT... this is not a voluntary process.... Air BnB is flexing dictatorship on the WEST !