Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has come out and said that racism and discrimination is not allowed on the platform. This comes after an Airbnb host in North Carolina canceled on a black person and sent her a slew of racist insults. Chesky also said Airbnb has permanently banned the host.
“The incident in NC was disturbing and unacceptable,” Chesky wrote in a tweet today. “Racism and discrimination have no place on Airbnb. We have permanently banned this host.”
The incident Chesky is talking about is truly sickening. Basically, the host explicitly states the reason they’re canceling on the black woman is because of her race. In explaining to her that he wouldn’t let her stay at his place, he used the N-word several times. In cases like these, I would usually quote what the person said, but I refuse to post that kind of racist garbage on this site.
Meanwhile, some black people have come out and described their experiences getting rejected on Airbnb and then getting accepted when they have their white friend put in the request. If you want to read those stories, check out #AirbnbWhileBlack. And, as it turns out, discrimination by Airbnb hosts seems to be widespread, according to a paper by three Harvard researchers.
Airbnb clearly has some racist hosts that it needs to weed out, so the banning of this host seems to be a start.