Since the launch of Fabstayz, can we measure it’s success by growth or is it too soon to judge. Before it’s launch, several people were promoting this new niche business model on social media to promote and bring awareness that this community needed “safe places” for traveling. Since the launch, none of the hosts in my market have listed with them. I have hosts in my social media circles report that they feel they have been pressured to list with this service to prove they support the LGBTQ community. Me personally, I have booked LGBTQ people for years and I don’t feel the need to list with Fabstayz to prove I support or discriminate against this community. Some hosts feel that similar niche business models just reinforce reverse discrimination. We all know this community boycotts Chick Fil A, but I don’t feel they will boycott my short/long term rentals because I am not listed on Fabstayz. I also don’t see the whole LGBTQ community pledging to only book with Fabstayz.
Never heard of it . Is it a global platform.?
In what way do the hosts you know say they are being ‘pressurised’ to join? @Jim_Haines
Never heard of it and don’t feel the need to advertise on speciality platforms. Also don’t care what orientation, race, religion etc guests are. Woud only “discriminate” against guest with a proven track record of misbehavior.
It’s another niche platform, aimed primarily at LGBTQ community, a la MisterBNB. Appears to have started in Portland, Oregon, uses Houfy as a back end and is still in Beta.
JF
Would not list with them. It’s sounds as discriminatory as can be, and I personally don’t put up with discrimination in any form.
How so? I’m honestly curious as I don’t see how an LGTBQ-friendly company is any different than a host posting signage that “all are welcome.” I personally would not want to host a homophobic guest (certainly not one who made their views known) and I’m guessing that people listing their properties on Fabstayz feel the same way. But I wouldn’t consider that discrimination.
ETA: Hosts listing on Fabstayz are required to agree with the following:
As a FabStayz featured host you will be welcoming LGBT+ travelers who may not have used such a platform out of fear of judgment or trepidation not knowing how receptive their host would be. While all hosts featured on FabStayz have agreed to nondiscrimination policies from various other platforms such as Airbnb and must adhere to local, state and federal guidelines, FabStayz requires that featured hosts acknowledge and agree to the FabStayz Terms of Participation.
I am an ally and/or member of the community welcoming LGBT+ guests to be themselves as I foster a hosting environment of respect and inclusion.
I’ve not heard of it, but do my best to portray my listing as a safe space for the LGBTQ community. My initial description includes "My open and welcoming home offers easy access to . . . " and I also include a picture stating “All Are Welcome Here.”
LGBTQ+ guests have been some of my very favorite guests over the years, and I happily and lovingly welcome them (and all others regardless of race, religion, age, place of origin, etc.) within the inclusive platform of Airbnb, but feel that a separate platform just provides a divide that is not inclusive to all. When you welcome just one group, it’s inclusive of them, but sends the message exclusion to others. I have three children; my son is gay, veering toward gender fluid, my younger daughter is heterosexual, and my older daughter is pansexual. I feel that I am fairly well versed on the subject (with much thanks to my wonderful kids), but know that further progress will come for all of us as caring, inclusive human beings, and hosts. All my children have used Airbnb, and have had great success in staying with hosts who welcome them, respect them, and simply do their job by providing accommodations devoid of judgement.
As this is a site for Airbnb hosts, I’m a bit baffled as to why a discussion about whether a completely different site will survive.
I think it’s just a curiosity about how the entire short-term rental industry operates. AirBnB obviously has the lion’s share of the market at the moment, and many hosts find that problematic (to put it mildly). I want to know what other options are out there, and how they are working (or not working) for the hosts who are using them in addition to, or instead of, AirBnB.
Laugh out loud, well the food sucks and their now dead daddy was openly discriminating against the gays. If I was not a vegetarian I would not eat there anyways, I tried them about 10 years ago when I was an omnivore and threw out the greasy sandwich it was really gross.
I listed on MrBnb and got nothing but relentless emails from them, after 8 months no bookings I dropped them along with Trip Adviser. I am open to trying new ways to get heads in beds, but also if they do not work I am open to leaving. I try to frame all my business decisions around what is good for my business. Heads in beds!
RR
And another one that tried to go was Innclusive. In the past there were gay friendly rental websites like Purple Roofs. As someone who is gay and uses STR sites, I don’t see any need for the niche sites. It’s very time consuming to book anything other than a hotel. I don’t want to go to this site and that site and find there are no listings for my dates. Turning on the IB and SH filters are good ways to speed up the process. I don’t think Fabstayz will survive, even sites that aren’t niche sites aren’t going to survive.
I imagine you are right about that.
RR
I don’t mind niche sites that are based around a specific interest - but having sites specifically for LGBTQ seems a bit last century to me. Being gay isn’t an ‘interest’. Gay people - and please correct me if I’m wrong - don’t have specific requirements (specific to being gay) when looking for accommodation.
Gay people can still be fired in 17 states for being gay. So I wish it was so last century. That being said it is getting better.
RR
In which case this forum can play its part. It might not be much but every little helps. When we stop seeing LGBTQ people as something different, so much so that they ‘deserve’ their own rental sites, then we are going some way to foster rational and sensible behaviour.
Aside from the very real problems of bigotry that exist, it’s just a simple matter of economics. There are 100x more hosts on Airbnb in any given city that will accept me than there are on fabstayz or purple roofs. The pop and pop store can’t compete with the big box store. I no longer have to go to the “gay bookstore” or the “women’s music festival” because the books I want are at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or even Powell’s or Half Price books and the gay artists I want to hear are playing Coachella and Austin City Limits.
I am of two minds on minority focused peer to peer rental sites. On the one hand I know that those audiences want to feel safe and welcome. They want to have a larger pool of hosts to pick from rather than comb through literally thousands of listings looking for hints to indicate whether someone is really LGBTQ friendly or not homophobes. On the other hand, I am not sure any of these starts do much due diligence to ensure that that is indeed the case. All peer-to-peer platforms rely on a LARGE amount of trust. I dear say that Airbnb offers a little bit more protection. Airbnb does regularly crosscheck their host database with arrest records.
I think Innclusive, MisterBnB, and this one will survive if they are able to offer something folks find valuable. If not, they won’t. It’s as simple as that.
As I comb I look for hints that they might not be. There are code words and symbols in the pictures that just encourage me to click away, as we’ve previously discussed. I don’t know if they are intentional or not but they are helpful to me. I don’t care to give my money to someone who is merely tolerating me because they don’t want to be de-listed from Airbnb.
OMG yes, Chick-Fil-A should be shut down for flavor violations.
Is that a typo or is that a real term for LBGTQ-friendly retailers? Either way, it’s kind of appropriate.
Exactly. If I need more business, I will spend my efforts on an STR site that is most likely to bring in that business. What’s missing from the conversation is that data. It might be the case that the demand for Fabstayz is very high simply because of the lack of supply, and that demand may be location-specific, or listing-type specific, too, but I don’t know until I see real (not anecdotal) data.
I have never heard of it before, idk
RR