
AirBnbWhileBlack Highlights Discrimination Faced by Black Travelers - jaoued
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/airbnbwhileblack-discrimination-faced-by-black-travelers_us_572a66d6e4b016f37894a5c4?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&
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southphillyman
Has happened to me several times. Most blatant was a guy who had multiple open
properties in Miami for Art Basel and denied that any of them were available.
There should be some kind of agreement where hosts can not book a given slot
if they deny a user in good standing that reservation. I'm not a host but I'm
curious what are some legitimate reasons for a cancellation if the user agrees
to all of the host's terms....

~~~
MichaelGG
Why? Because the "host" is inviting people to stay in their home. I'd be
totally justified in deciding that a user looks difficult to deal with
(perhaps they look young and it's near a party time, or perhaps their other
reviews indicate they're "difficult").

AirBNB isn't going to make everything right between two unknown parties. Minor
hassles can add up into a major headache. Plus there's a lot of social
pressure on reviews (both ways), so even that seems like limited recourse.

Edit: To clarify, I'm responding to why they should be able to refuse any
guest.

~~~
southphillyman
Again, most hosts have published rules. If the guest agrees to those rules, is
in good standing, and the place is available then how is there a legitimate
reason for denying the reservation? "Because it's my house" is not a real
reason. If you are that protective then why are you on Airbnb? If you are
scared of parties in Miami during <insert holiday/allstar weekend> then why is
your unit available at ALL on those dates?

~~~
MichaelGG
Not applying to illegal hotel chains like the one you mentioned: AirBnB would
have even more issues on hand if they mandated "you must accept all requests".
That's probably a non starter for legitimate AirBnB hosts (not the people
running a business).

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emehrkay
Black Americans have highlighted what and where is safe for them during
traveling for a long time now. I'd say there needs to be a 21 century version
of the Negro Motorist Green Book

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro_Motorist_Green_Book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro_Motorist_Green_Book)

~~~
jakevoytko
Technology has advanced well past the printing press, so Airbnb can actually
do much better than that.

Technology problems and social problems go hand-in-hand. For an easy example,
consider moderation. Online communities are improved (the /r/science
subreddit), or torn apart (Twitter users) based on the strength or weaknesses
of the available moderation tools.

So what, technologically, could Airbnb do to improve its user experience for
marginalized?

It could use inclusiveness as a search signal. This style of tactic (forcing
improvements through algorithmic penalties) works extremely well when Google
uses it for search rankings. For instance, if users self-reported their race,
and listing X systematically fails to rent to people of certain backgrounds,
penalize it in the rankings. Make it well-known that this is a factor, but
don't tell people when they are violating it.

Something less-likely to work is a report/moderate cycle, to manually review
these types of cases. The problem here is that it's almost impossible to
review intent; maybe I really DID think my vacation was going to be cancelled,
but then a project at work got cancelled so it came back.

~~~
Frondo
"The problem here is that it's almost impossible to review intent; maybe I
really DID think my vacation was going to be cancelled, but then a project at
work got cancelled so it came back."

Sure, people will lie about intent, not even be aware of their subconscious
bias against black people, whatever...

That's why you look at the aggregate totals. It's just not going to be the
case that _coincidentally_ black travelers have their rentals rejected at a
larger rate because of random external forces like renter projects being
canceled.

------
fiatmoney
Is it acceptable for women renting single rooms in their apartments to refuse
to rent to men?

~~~
draw_down
Maybe. But to refuse to rent to specific men based on their race? No that is
not (or should not be) acceptable.

~~~
gedy
If you allow refusals for any reason, then someone can always pick an
"acceptable" reason and not much you can do about it.

~~~
draw_down
Yes, I am aware I can't actually do anything about this, I was answering a
different question.

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googletazer
Seems me to me that ultimately up to the owners to decide who they want to
accept. If they turn down too many people with variation X, its their loss,
and someone else will make money on that.

~~~
potatolicious
"The Invisible Hand will right all moral wrongs" is an argument that is
unconvincing and historically hasn't been true. As is the idea that market
forces will overall select for less discrimination.

After all, it has been a massive market opportunity to include women in the
workforce since almost the dawn of civilization, and yet it's taken centuries
for the allegedly rational market to realize this (and even then, not fully).

Ditto in the height of the Civil Rights era there was a massive market
opportunity for restaurants that were willing to serve people of color - yet
this largely didn't happen.

The market - and its participants - are frequently irrational. Or maybe more
accurately, sociopolitical forces have the power to skew market behavior in
huge ways.

This is also why I'm also often skeptical of attempts to cast equality as an
economic good - it frequently is, but basing a worldview around it seems
dangerous, precisely because the market often selects against justice.

~~~
fiatmoney
"Ditto in the height of the Civil Rights era there was a massive market
opportunity for restaurants that were willing to serve people of color - yet
this largely didn't happen."

That's untrue. Black areas had high density of businesses that catered to
blacks, and by large discrimination was _legally mandated_ , not a market
outcome. Business groups were in general in favor of dismantling segregation
because it increased their potential market.

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gedy
It seems the root issue is AirBnb is just facilitating, and the actual owners
can and do choose who they let in their house (i.e. discriminate). While it's
unfortunate and unfair, I'm not sure what regulatory environment could help
with individuals. Perhaps allow reviews for people who could not rent a place?

~~~
draw_down
People who discriminate based on race should at least come out and say who
they refuse to rent to. If they're going to be racist pieces of shit they
should at least own up to that and not waste the time of people who are trying
to find somewhere to stay.

~~~
spriggan3
> People who discriminate based on race should at least come out and say who
> they refuse to rent to.

Except it is illegal to do so in a good number of countries. Racists know
that. That's why they make up excuses.

~~~
meira
Both issues are illegal. Fight both or none.

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xenihn
The Huffington Post comments for this article are...something else.

~~~
Analemma_
[I've removed this comment since I guess I can't delete it altogether, see my
edit below.]

~~~
RyanIyengar
[https://medium.com/humane-tech/against-don-t-read-the-
commen...](https://medium.com/humane-tech/against-don-t-read-the-comments-
aee43ce515b9#.bgjwjvxny)

"We’ve made a habit out of telling people not to read the comments online. But
what started as a cynical in-joke has become a bad habit, and an excuse for
enabling abuse across the web."

Just pointing out that while comments are terrible, it's Huffington Post that
enables them to happen unchecked.

~~~
Analemma_
I did read that article when Anil first posted it and while I agree with him,
it's tough to apply his lessons on a day-to-day basis. You might come across
several articles per day, and on each one you have to decide what you want to
do about the comments. You could use the opportunity to launch into Anil's
manifesto, but most of the time you won't have the time or mental energy for
that, and so just leaving without reading the comments is the only real
option.

Edit: On further reflection, I guess Anil was writing as much or more about
the "Don't read the comments" joke itself as about what to do when you come
upon a comments section. And in that vein, it's true that my comment is pretty
unhelpful. I've deleted it.

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Kinnard
Has AirBnB commented?

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shogun21
David King, AirBnb's new director of "diversity and belonging," says AirBnb is
aware of discrimination on their platform and they want to be a leader in
addressing it. He says he's talking with Luca and others in finding potential
solutions.

One thing that could help is removing people's names and photos or making them
less prominent. But this isn't something AirBnb will improve their platform.

"The photos are on the platform for a reason," King said. "It really does help
to aid in the trust between the guest and the host . . . You want to make sure
that the guest who shows up at your door is the person you've been
communicating with."

[http://www.npr.org/2016/04/26/475623339/-airbnbwhileblack-
ho...](http://www.npr.org/2016/04/26/475623339/-airbnbwhileblack-how-hidden-
bias-shapes-the-sharing-economy)

~~~
kenjackson
_" It really does help to aid in the trust between the guest and the host . .
. You want to make sure that the guest who shows up at your door is the person
you've been communicating with."_

How does a photo do that? The photo just ensures that the person at your door
matches the photo. But why is that important? That is, what info are you
trying to glean from the photo?

~~~
dwaltrip
It is evidence that the guest's online persona that the host has been
communicating with is the same as the offline persona who shows up at host's
door.

~~~
kenjackson
Right, it makes sure the photo matches. But why is that important/useful? Do
people show up at the door who try to pretend they are the renter, but really
aren't?

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55acdda48ab5
The following is a totally reasonable point that some SJW on this site
deleted. I would like to know exactly on what grounds.

\----

The one piece of actual research in this is about discrimination against
"black sounding" names. In one quoted tweet the guy mentions having to use his
middle name.

Has it occurred to anyone that the main issue here might be people with
deliberately weird names, and not race per se?

If you are named Rainbow, Adolf, Cletus, or LaQuan, I'm going to conclude
(from experience) your mother and you are both probably crazy.

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meira
QuickFix: show statistics and reviews of denied booking.

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jbob2000
Well, stories like these sure don't help:
[https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/04/28/police-
searchi...](https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/04/28/police-searching-
for-two-suspects-in-toronto-gang-war-kidnapping.html)

~~~
infosample
Is violence in an Airbnb apartment exclusively by black people? Does violence
not happen in hotels? I'm having a hard time finding the relevance.

~~~
jbob2000
Not at all, just that people read these stories and form bad opinions from
them.

