Airbnb dictating that we should host anyone who requests booking

Just had an email from Aitbnb entitled “Your 2016 Taxes”. On clicking the link our 2016 earnings and fees were displayed as would be expected but in addition was another notice to the effect that we had to agree to accept guests regardless of their religion (among other criteria of which we would have no problem). This basically means surely that we have to agree to accepting guests who are part of terrorist organizations and who subscribe to beliefs that people who do not agree with their philosophies will be destroyed. I have no intention of hosting or supporting terrorists or the people who support them and who wish to impose their culture of barbarity upon America and the Western World.
Airbnb should stick to business issues or move their operation to one of those countries who totally support this kind of belief and doctrine…

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That notice did not say you needed to host terrorists. My goodness… if you don’t want to host Hindus or Baptists find another platform.

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If you don’t want to host people from certain areas, that is totally fine, it is your home your decision. Just find a polite excuse and reject their booking enquiry. In my point of view, even though many people from these places are nice and not terrorists, I can still reject because I don’t want to live in worries. I will probably start worrying from the moment they book my place. But if someone comes from these areas but have great past reviews and clear profile, I would accept.

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You joined one hour ago to say you refuse to host terrorists trying to destroy the American Way? Don’t worry. I am sure our new Russian overlords will support you on that. In the meantime, Airbnb is asking you to following the U.S. law which says you are not allowed to discriminate based on race, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation or national identity.

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I’m behind you 100%! You should never be forced to do anything you don’t morally agree with. If you feel so strongly, why don’t you close your AirBNB account Immediately? I’m sure your morality will not allow you to continue to generate income from an organization so blatantly in favor of the destruction of our society.

Get a grip, what you concentrate on most is what you create.

I’m still in favor of closing your account.

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No it’s not totally fine to make up some excuse @Freya. That’s what we call discrimination and it’s unacceptable.

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So he should just say “I don’t want to host you because you’re a __________.”

Lol, no he should not be on the platform at all. I have no doubt that there are a minority of hosts already practicing this and in reality if they can’t be accepting of people from all backgrounds, they shouldn’t be hosting.

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Hi Zandra, discrimination exists in many aspects of our life. No one likes to be discreminated and I don’t support discremination. But I believe hosts can decide who they allow in their house, and they should reject if they are uncomfortable hosting certain guests, no matter it is due to religion, or just gut feeling. Of course if guests are rejected due to their religion, we call it discrimination. I don’t support it but we should respect the host’s decision because it is their home being let to strangers. In the end, I believe most hosts just want a trouble free or preferably happy hosting experience. If I reject guests from certain areas, it is not because I discriminate the whole group, it is just me fearing troubles, and too many horror stories made me biased (even though I know many people are nice but I can’t be sure whether the ones who want to live in my house are nice, they are strangers to me and I don’t have a way to know them except the reviews).

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Phil – Dial back your paranoia buddy!

AirBnb is doing nothing more than requiring you not to be a racist, bigot, and accept the standard American attitudes of non-discrimination based on race, creed, color, religion, sexual orientation etc.

If you cannot operate under those basic rules of non-discrimination then you really need to get out od the short term rental business.

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This is a good overview of the laws that may - or may not - apply to short term rentals, depending on whether you offer a private room or whole house, or what state you’re in. In some cases State laws are more strict than Federal. (I am personally rooting for you to live in California!)

I forgot to add people with disabilities to my previous list. (A group our soon-to-be Attorney General would also like to forget.) One host here proudly declared he didn’t want any fat people and reserved the right to turn them away at the door. Charming. Also illegal.

But seriously, if you actually, literally suspected a guest to be a terrorist - I heard they like to use shared Airbnbs - call the Department of Homeland Security.

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I am actually glad people like Phil have been made uncomfortable by asking them to agree not to discriminate. He will hopefully leave the platform due to his ‘beliefs’.

This must be what ‘draining the swamp’ means - ridding us of people like Phil who categorize people they disagree with or are afraid of simply on the basis of how they look or ‘a feeling’. Phil could get out of airbnb and leave room for more caring and openminded hosts - a win/win!

Perhaps before he goes, he can leave us with a short list of what he uses to determine if a guest is actually a terrorist. It’ll be a good guide for racist hosts - we can post it here for their ‘education’ - and maybe ask that when people who fit this narrow vision of this man who obviously sees more than every intelligence organization in the world contact the NSA directly and save us all from hosting people with different color skin or, god forbid, a different set of religious hates. I’m sure they are used to hearing from patriotic folks like Phil who are eager to rid us all of brown skins and different languages.

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How on earth would you know they were terrorists? It’s not as if they have ‘terrorist’ tattooed on their foreheads, is it? They don’t wear t-shirts bearing the words ‘I am a terrorist’. Would you message them and ask ‘are you a terrorist?’ before you let them book? And do you seriously think that a terrorist would tell you if they were? Daft.

Or is your problem simply that you think anyone with dark skin is a terrorist?

Anyone who is white, male, American and has not travelled to other countries has probably not experienced discrimination but many of us here have - to some degree or another - and it’s not a matter to be taken lightly.

Like others who have posted their comments, I feel that being a host is not for you.

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Unfortunately, overweight people are not a protected class so it is not illegal to discriminate against us. It is immoral to discriminate against us.

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Or, like most people, do it but don’t broadcast it. Also, I’d like to know how you will be able to identify ISIS guests. Is there going to be a box to tick on the Air site for religion?

My imagination runs wild. What would that inquiry look like?

Just like any other except they would check “muslim” for religion. Then OP would know for sure that he didn’t want them in his house making bombs in their room.

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Are Muslims the only people to fear? I find some evangelical Christians more scary. Do you envision a checkbook for “and I believe in Sharia law?” :slight_smile:

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That might be wise.

Also, just as a side note, I lived for 7 years in a country where Sharia Law was practiced. It’s pretty scary, especially for women. They also have some very cruel and gruesome forms of punishment–public beheading in the town square being the most horrible.

And definitely yes, the kooky Christians are a pretty scary bunch as well. They’re waiting in the wings to inflict their tyranny in as many ways possible once Trump gets crowned.

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Yeah I wouldn’t he happy hosting those Christian KKK people! Haha.

A few crazies around here at the moment was it the full moon on a Friday the 13th perhaps?

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