Airbnb dictating that we should host anyone who requests booking

And depending on what part of the world you live in the Americans are the terrorists…

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I’d really like to see what a “terrorists” might look like to Phil. Do they wear badges that say “Mujadeen” or have “Al-shabeeb” emboidered on their wheely bags? Terrorists come in all shapes and colors, and I do not think one could be capable of identifying one. They would most likely not frequent Airbnb, as our good hosts have communication with our guests above and beyond that of sleep cheaps… Discrimination? You bet. This is not the business for you.

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A terrorist just got the death sentence in the US. He is a 22 year old white suburban kid from the town he did his terrorist act.

Does this guy fit your mental image of a terrorist? Would you have picked him out of a crowd as one?

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There aren’t many hosts here (I imagine) who remember the time in England when everyone was suspicious of people who had an Irish accent. It was a time when anyone who had innocently left a supermarket bag in a pub meant that the bomb squad was alerted and the pub was evacuated. (Just because some old dear had forgotten to take her groceries home).

It was a time when if people saw fire engines in the street, they wouldn’t gawk, they’d get away as soon as possible because there might be a bomb. It was a time when almost everyone in England knew someone who had been affected by a terrorist bomb or attack.

It was a time when I heard that the pub I’d been in the previous day had been bombed and (if I remember rightly) four people were killed and 50 were seriously injured. Even a member of the royal family was blown up and killed in a terrorist attack.

Terrorism is nothing new. Some of us have lived through it and (I’d like to think) common sense prevails in the end.

No-one would worry about hosting Irish people these days. And no-one should worry about hosting ‘terrorists’ now. I really doubt it’s going to happen.

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Wow. Do you really think there are religions that seek to destroy everyone else? Terrorism isn’t about any actual religion. Some terrorists hide behind religion. Not accepting terrorists isn’t the same thing as not accepting someone of a different religion.

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Would you expect anything less from a progressive liberal company? I don’t like that either. And I was told if I turn down an instant booking I would lose my super host status. Such BS. That’s just one of the reasons why I want to quit this business .I think the pressure of all these other hosts crowding the field, The push in many cities to regulate and try to extract more fees out of hosts making it expensive for the gas to already has to pay Air Bnb a fee. And the fact that Air Bnb does not provide decent insurance and if you want real coverage you have to pay about $400 a month. They should be bankrolling an insurance company to cover Air Bnb hosts for a reasonable rate.

Oh dear.

Would I expect anything less from a progressive company? No.

And should Airbnb be bankrolling an insurance company? No.

Both your expectations are unreasonable.

I do find insurance costs in the US crazy but that’s the price for how litigious the US is. My insurance costs £120 for the year with 15mill for public liability and Airbnb listed as commercial activity on my policy.

Finally you mentioned on another thread you made 27,000k on Airbnb last year. That’s a lot of money - in that context it’s more than reasonable you pick up your insurance costs.

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@Zandra would you mind sending me details of your insurance - mine is more than double that - so would be great to get a quote from your insurance company

You probably have buildings insurance too and I don’t Helsi as I’m not the homeowner. I’m with Aviva. l also live in a gated community in a 5th floor flat… right next to the river but no risk of flooding apparently.

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Hi @Zandra

Actually the building insurance is separate and I am outside London, with no flooding risk, so it should be cheaper !

Thanks for the tip. I will give Aviva a call.

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Good luck!! :slight_smile:

I’ve been very happy with them.

Why would they check “Muslim” if they were terrorists?

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Well, I’m going to step on a land mine here … and say I am totally in accord with Phil’s astonishment. (Not the nonsense and hyperbole about terrorists, etc.,etc. That’s plain silly.)
I remember that note from the corporate venture capitalists behind this label of AirBnB. It was interesting, non-specific politically-correct fuddle-duddle. It could have meant anything at all.
It smelled like a camouflage for something else - and it was: the start of random mandatory
’Instant Book’. Great for a site like Booking.com, and if I were an investor in AirBnB (or any other online real estate rental agency - since these are all just flimsy labels) I would do the same thing. Go for the most money, right? That’s the point of the game. But Phil isn’t an investor, and neither are we. We are interested in the ORIGINAL concept way before this business name AirBnB - friends welcoming friends, folks letting visitors crash in their living rooms, farmers letting me stash my bicycle and bag in a barn out of the rain, even the Couchsurfing exchange of 12-13 years ago. We’re interested in that. Black, white, pink, purple, Chinese, Arab, Caucasian, Zionist, Palestinian,
Mongolian, French, gay, straight, bi, tri, whatever… nobody cares about all that, as long as folks respect each other and - everyone doing this activity KNOWS THAT!
The BOTTOM LINE : INSTANT BOOK is NOT THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT. But it’s their platform, and it’s very much a corporate business, so the only thing to do is accept it like a slave, or leave and start something else. Be proactive. people with the same mind as us - let’s be positive and create something better!

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Sigh. Only someone who has never been racially profiled would spout that guff.

I wish the world was a happy clappy as you suggest but its not. And you’re not forced to use instant book if you don’t want to… there are several in here that don’t.

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Hi Zandra,

Ni Hao. Konnichiwa. Anyunghaseiyo. All the best to you.
I’m ethnically and racially profiled every moment of every day of my life here
in a totally foreign country, and I stick out like a white dot on a black carpet.
People won’t even sit beside me on a train. And I grew up in a different country where
we had to emigrate since another ethnic group took over the government (1974,
Quebec, Canada) I love many Quebecois, really love them, but the son-of-a-guns in government
were racist ethnic ‘cleansers’. So, that’s me - and I hold my view. This topic is about business,
not ethnic, racial anything.(Of course, if you’re elsewhere, as in the US, I’m sure you have a unique set of experiences giving you your view). Peace.

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By the way, the examples of crashing in a farmer’s barn, a stranger’s living room - that’s all true, but not in the US. 1975 Spain. 1974, Sicilia, Italy, 1968 Ontario, Canada, 1989 rural Japan. I have had total strangers suddenly give me the keys to their apartments. Yes, I know. Surprised me, too. There are good people all over the place. That’s my experience, and I often have little idea what they’re saying, but their hearts are pure and virtuous.

We are being silly. Why would there be a religion question in the first place.? Would be funny though, just under the number of guests plus or minus line.

It said no such thing Phil but if I’m to follow your wacky paranoid alarmist logic, then I will stop hosting young white christian males. Last thing I need is a Timothy McVeigh or some other kid looking to attack children at school or my local movie theatre or Church.

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How do you know they are terrorists? Maybe you should be a profiler for the FBI or CIA as you appear to know more than the rest of us. Or maybe it’s just plain discrimination.
Lynn

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It is a thread about business, and it is a thread about ethnicities and race. As a business we are not to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. And I’m fine with that. The OP apparently is not.

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