“We have been slow to address these problems, and for this I am sorry”, said Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky in a message published on the vacation rental website’s blog. Among the changes: de-emphasizing the role of user photos in arranging stays.
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These are important first steps, but there is likely more needed to thoroughly weed out the “widespread discrimination against African-American guests”, that Harvard researchers found in Airbnb services back in January. That’s why Airbnb has announced new policies to help foster a more inclusive community. The program will involve 24/7 personalized responses from “specially trained” employees.
“After thoroughly analyzing this issue, I came to believe that Airbnb guests should not be asked or required to hide behind curtains of anonymity when trying to find a place to stay”, said Murphy, while noting that Airbnb “will also experiment with reducing the prominence of guest photos in the booking process”.
It’s not clear how the firm would guarantee a spot, but Airbnb said if there were no similar listing on the market, the company would “identify an alternative accommodation option”.
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.
The San Francisco-based company will ask hosts to agree to an anti-discrimination policy that goes beyond US legal requirements, it said in a a 32-page report authored by Laura Murphy, the former head of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The firm also vowed to diversify its workforce.
The report acknowledges that Airbnb has been been slow to address discrimination on its platform, in part because of its lack of internal diversity. Anti-bias training is mandatory for all staff. It aims to increase this to 11% before 2018.
The company has also introduced hiring rules created to increase diversity among senior-level positions and is retraining customer service representatives on its diversity policy.
“Airbnb is engaging in frank and sustained conversations about bias on its platform”, said Laura Murphy, the former top lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union who was brought on by company to review its practices, in a Thursday report that laid out the new policy as well as other measures the company is taking to combat discrimination.
Jamila Jefferson-Jones, associate professor of law at the University Missouri, Kansas City, who has written about Airbnb discrimination, said it would be insufficient to simply deemphasize photos.
“If someone is able to see the picture of the potential guest prior to whether they accept the booking, I think it’s still problematic”, she said, noting that black guests with names like hers will continue to face discrimination.
“Corporations like Airbnb usher in exciting, market-changing innovations, but those disruptive technologies can also provide a platform for bad actors to engage in racial discrimination and other civil rights violations”, Robinson said in a statement provided to The Huffington Post. In May, a black Airbnb user, Gregory Seldon, said he was denied housing from a host when he used his real profile on the platform. As with most things, black leisure is not dependent upon white approval.
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“This has been a very different engagement … and we’re hoping that that this does address the problem”, he said.
