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Personally I would never accept a booking from someone with no profile photo, no profile information and no verification. It is a condition of my listing that I only accept bookings from people with photo ID, who have a clear profile photo of themselves and who tell me why they chose my place, plans for their stay and something about themeselves.
If you are concerned about prejudice relating to your partner from a certain race or community, why not make it clear in your profile where you are both from and then people with that prejudice can chose not to stay with you.
Just as a white supremacists would not choose to stay with me once they see my profile photo.
If it is so apparent from facial feature where your partner is from. Surely when these people see his photo on your profile they will know?
@Helsi just curiousâŚif and when Airbnb goes to a no photo system (which I think they are going to do, hotel style) will you stop hosting?
Maybe @GutHend would be willing to make a poll for me. Not having photos would drive hosts off the platform more than messing with cancellation policies.
I highly doubt that would happen @Clemkadiddlehopper. People from opposing factions arenât going to travel to a third country just to do harm, they can do that on their own doorstep.
I donât have white supremacists rocking up to my door to do me harm.
My wife is half Mexican and half French should I mention it âjust in caseâ someone who doesnât like Europeans and Mexicans comes along? The big deal is in your head, not theirs. The guest is not an âenemyâ from the get go just because he/sheâs from Lebanon or Palestine or any other country. If the guest doesnât like it, he can move on to another place.
I think, and hope, your children will be very lucky growing up with four languages. Itâs a fact that everywhere you go - Middle East, Europe, Asia, N&S America, Oz - the world is becoming more mixed by race, culture and ancestry. The juxtaposition is that as this happens, nations are becoming more nationalistic and tribal. Itâs a difficult one.
It seems that you find it hard to be more exact about where you are or from, which leaves us only able to offer up generalities. For what itâs worth, if your husband is Israeli, why not just stick, if asked, to simply saying yes heâs Jewish. That stays on race, not nationality, and speaks volumes.
Guests who have issues with hostsâ nationality, religion or non religion, color of skin, or language are not desirable guests and are not desirable airbnb members.
It is not up to you to cater to homophobes, racists, or bigots by allowing them to continue to decide who is worthy or unworthy to live in their small-minded world.
They donât necessarily have to travel far. There are areas where, for example, some Jewish people would not feel safe letting some Muslim people into their homes. I know Jewish people in my city who feel that way. They wouldnât feel comfortable allowing a local or American Muslim in their home. Whether or not we (I am of neither religion) think that fear is unreasonable or ârightâ is irrelevant. For some people, it makes them feel safer. And they should do whatever makes them feel comfortable, as far as Iâm concerned.
OK, so take another example. Here in the southern United States, there have been hate crimes against transgender people. Maybe a transgender person would not want to disclose if they were transgender because they may be at risk of violence or discrimination from a guest. So, because some people may be singled out for violence or other negativity by guests, you think these hosts just shouldnât be on Airbnb or similar platform? Or why not just allow them to protect themselves by denying guests who might fall into those potentially dangerous categories?
If I were Jewish in an area known for hate crimes against Jewish people, I might not feel comfortable letting someone with a Muslim name stay in my home. If I were Muslim in an area known for hate crimes against Muslims, I may not let somebody in my home who appears to be Jewish. If I were an African American or transgender person in the United States, I may not let someone in my home whoâs profile picture shows them flying a confederate flag and wearing a MAGA hat.
Not everyone on the platform is harmless or well-intended. Itâs not unreasonable for hosts to take measures to protect themselves against people who seem like they might be violent or hateful to them.
Edit: Hereâs an even more simple example: if I were a single woman hosting, I may not feel comfortable hosting men. Why? Because men are statistically more likely to commit violence against me as a single female. Does that mean all men on the platform are bad? No. Would I be unreasonable in discriminating against all men and refusing to host them? Maybe. It all depends on where Iâm hosting, what experiences Iâve had in the past, and what I felt comfortable with.
Because (a) AirBnB doesnât allow you to reject people on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion or sexuality and will kick you off if you do, and (b) some people are afraid of all people who are different to them and will use âsafetyâ as an excuse to, for example, deny people of colour accomodation. Which is why AirBnB set their non-discriminatory policy in the first place when a study showed people of colour in the US were more likely to be rejected as guests for no good reason.
Personally, and you are free to differ, if you have a problem with people based on race, religion, sexuality or ethnicity then you should probably stay off AirBnB. And out of the public square altogether.
And I say that as a gay man who has had conservative and religious guests stay who probably disapprove of homosexuality but seem to pry more than others and ask if I have any children. I just say âNo I donâtâ and change the topic.
@JamJerrupSunset I think you are missing @Clemkadiddlehopper 's point: He/she advices not to disclose in oneâs listing. I agree with this advice.
Do you disclose being gay in your listing? And can I ask why you choose to disclose yes or no?
No I donât disclose it but I do say: " This is an LGBT gay friendly household. People of all faiths or none are welcome and respected." The first bit is so âLGBTâ or âgay friendlyâ gets picked up in search engines (this has been discussed here before, yes I know they mean pretty much the same thing) and both that and religion as proxies so guests know I am a lefty/liberal and so they can keep their opinions to themselves on religion and other issues if they are intolerant. It is one thing to protect yourself from people who have told you they are bigoted by word or photo, and another to assume because people belong to a particular group they must be bigoted and so exclude them âjust in caseâ which is itself a subtle form of bigotry.
@JamJerrupSunset Iâm just saying that I can see circumstances in which an individualâs opinions on personal safety could take precedence over airbnbâs anti-discrimination policies. I think there are places in the world and situations in which it is smart to hide aspects of yourself from all or certain guests. I also think that some hosts are operating within the realm of reason if they feel unsafe hosting people from particular religious, ethnic, or political backgrounds. Unless Airbnb has way more secure methods of screening guests and ensuring safety for hosts, I think itâs perfectly reasonable for hosts to use their own judgment when they consider allowing a stranger to enter their home and stay on their property. I can understand why someone would disagree with me here, but this is my position.
