Hosting a Hostel in EU, Spain - Do you think it is ok to list at least x1 Dormitory Room as Female Only?

[Hello6]

Hi, we have listed our Hello House Hostel in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain exclusively on Airbnb since June of 2019.  Each new winter tourist season we have seen more and more Airbnb listings in our area and less and less guests - especially female solo travelers.  Each season we also see a proliferation of new and similar FEMALE ONLY listings on Airbnb for our area including many of the hostels in our area either by private host or company accounts.  We currently list all our listings as gender neutral mixed / co- Ed.  We do this based on our interpretation of Airbnb's non-discrimination policy however each year we do see more listings including hostels in the area specifically host FEMALE ONLY dormitories within their homes.   We have read the non-discrimination policy through and through and honestly we think at this stage it is worth a discussion - Is it ok to have a Female Only Dormitory in a Shared home / hostel and is it ok to make this listing on Airbnb - regardless if the hosts identify their gender at all?  We bring up the discussion as each year more listings are made and each year our numbers drop especially for Female Solo travelers.  We have had guests in the past request a dormitory be kept female only and we have maintained an impromptu female only dormitory for some time.  We just think it is time to advertise this space as Female Only on Airbnb like we see with the competition.  Would this be ok?  Your thoughts and advice welcome.  Especially clarity from Airbnb itself.  

[Anonymous]

@Hello6   Airbnb's Nondiscrimination Policy only has this to say about it:

• Airbnb hosts may: Make a unit available to guests of the host’s gender and not the other, where the host shares living spaces with the guest.

Your profile uses a fake name and a child's painting instead of a real name and photo, but your guests refer to you as Brian and use he/him pronouns.  Unless you're actually female and all your guests have misgendered you, the policy technically does not allow you to have a female-only listing. 

But if your local laws actually allow you to have a licensed dormitory hostel in your home (which would be astonishing), the hostel booking websites don't seem to have the same policy.

[Hello6]

@Anonymous@@ yes, and thank you for your opinion.  We are aware of this interpretation of the non-discrimination policy regarding male hosts vs female hosts.  We are asking that if it should be ok for a hostel listing on Airbnb to be allowed to list a dormitory room as Female Only.  We do not hide behind anything as we are a hostel called Hello House and we do have various hosts from around the world.  Other hostels do the same either under an individuals name making listings for the hostel or vice versa as a hostel on Airbnb making the listings.  Unlike many hostels we have chosen to list exclusively through Airbnb as a lifestyle and ease of paperwork decision.  Unlike other platforms - such as Hostelworld - Airbnb is not clear about Female Only Dormitory listings in regards to a hostel.  For example a host on Hostelworld does have a choice to list and advertise specifically dormitory rooms as female only.  We ask for your opinion, others and hopefully for Airbnb to weigh in.  Thank you for your comments and interpretation.

[Anonymous]

@Hello6  I'd speculate that Airbnb hasn't outlined any more specific policies for its hostel-style listings because they're not a high priority. But what I can say for certain is that "female only" is not available as a search filter for guests looking for shared rooms. 

[Hello6]

@Anonymous@  your are correct.  There is no filter for Female Only.  There is however first page impressions and the description name.  Especially in the price range filter where you find shared rooms such as the ones in our home / hostel.  We do wholeheartedly agree with the gender neutral stance of Airbnb.  Unfortunately their is little done to stop the proliferation of listings descriptions as female only and of course you are allowed to list a female only dormitory or private room if you are a host who gender identifies as female in Europe and North America.  So we wonder why if we should join the trend of specifically saying that a room / dorm / space in our shared home for sleeping is designated as female only?  We have not seen this stop nor have we ever seen the listings taken down that do exist.  We can choose to stand with a principal of gender neutral inclusion and so can Airbnb however this won't happen if half the listings are allowed to advertise for 100% of half the population.  It is a mute point yet as we have not made our own Female Only listing yet to see if there is any difference in booking numbers.  What do you think?  Should we make a listing and see if it works as an extra marketing tool?  

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Hello6  One way to experiment with a different listing setting like that is to set it up as a one-month trial, with only that month open on the calendar, and see how it goes. Even if it might contravene Airbnb policy, that's only going to be a problem if a guest or prospective guest makes a discrimination complaint. That's a big "if," though; it only takes a few seconds for anyone viewing a listing to flag it for discrimination, and the result can be that all of your listings are suspended for weeks until someone at Airbnb finally investigates, with no compensation for your losses. That's a risk to consider.

There is definitely demand for female-only dorms in the hosteling world; plenty of women travelers are uncomfortable with male strangers in the sleeping area, especially in the big industrial hostels where new people are constantly drifting in. But on the other hand, the young generation of western backpackers features unprecedented numbers of people who identify as trans, non-binary, or genderqueer, so having a gender exclusionary space puts you in the prickly position of assessing whether a guest "qualifies" as female and mediating conflicts if they or their bunkmates disagree with your assessment. Keeping the space all-gender-inclusive means you never have to ask a guest's gender, nor decline or cancel a booking due to perceiving them as the wrong one. 

[Hello6]

@Anonymouswe have decided to not join the old / new competition on Airbnb by listing specific as "Female Only" for one of our dormitory rooms.  You are right - it does just take one discrimination complaint to get shut down on Airbnb - or at least it should - so we will continue a gender neutral listing stance.  We will however continue to help our guests to be comfortable and should they specifically ask for bed / room assignments we will make accommodations for them accordingly and in conjunction with our house rules.  Thanks for taking the time to answer and for your honest approach and ideas to this issue.