This was posted in our NextDoor today - I found it disturbing and I am raising the flag because there is no place I can find to connect to Airbnb to let them know that this is happening
Do other hosts have this problem that issues that are bad Public Communications are raised locally- but there is no one human being that Airbnb assigns to learn about about this
In the rush to automation inside Airbnb - I wonder if anyone has considered that the Airbnb experience for hosts and superhosts like myself is designed to minimize all human interaction? Ironic isn't it that a company which is bring human to human connection to the world, is itself operated like a machine with no human contact channel available for matters outside of what the Airbnb leaders have considered they want to hear about? Other than for things Airbnb has thought about, there appears to be no channel for information outside of the bubble that has been constructed by Airbnb about Airbnb.
All of the following words are from the post on Next door
Title: Airbnb racism in Menlo Park and Palo Alto
I work in Menlo Park. One of the leading consultants my institution works with is a black woman from Alabama. She comes to Silicon Valley once or twice a month. She recently told me that she only stays in hotels here because it has been difficult to find Airbnbs that will rent to her. When she first started coming three or four years ago, she would inquire about Airbnbs listed as available only to be told by the owners that they were not available. She and a white male friend decided to conduct an experiment: each time she inquired about an Airbnb and was told it was not available for her desired dates, he would then do the same. Most of the time, he was told it was available and offered the rental. I’m not surprised by this, but I am shocked. That racism exists here is not surprising. (Racist housing practices are baked into the area's history.*) That a close colleague of mine has experienced explicit, to-her-face racism from people in this highly educated, global community that likes to think of itself as open-minded is shocking. It calls to mind this Kamau Bell quote: “Here’s a truism I hear about black people: In the North, they don't care how high you get as long as you don't get too close; in the South they don't care how close you get as long as you don't get too high. In the North, you could be a black doctor as long as you don’t live too close. In the South, they don't want you to be a doctor but you can live across the street.”