Wondering how others hosts would handle - discrimination issue

Ahh, I’ve lost many relatives who were born in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of them were racist, sexist and homophobic, others were the complete opposite and fought hard for equal rights. I’d say homophobia wins the day for diehard prejudice, though.

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You review the person that booked, that is the only option you have.

You must be the oldest host on this forum then? :joy:

After reading your full throated, all caps defense of the phrase “Jew them down” on this forum I can’t think of you as being helpful on this issue. You’ve followed that up with what I’m sure you thought were funny comments about Ramen eating Chinese guests (which I saw before you deleted and was going to comment on but didn’t) and now saying we should be understanding of racists if they are older or from a different background.

I will never quit speaking out when I read racist comments on this forum.

I guess this forum has a reputation for racism. I read this on an old Reddit thread.

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He is correct; be truthful and not hurtful. The daughter didn’t know her father would behave unacceptably. I would be inclined to say something like, “I did not meet Jane Doe. She assisted her parents with a third party booking. Unfortunately her father’s loud and disrespectful behavior will not allow us to book a stay by him again”. If you can skip the recommend guest/not recommend, I would. You don’t know what she is like.

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Thats wrong. You can’t admit to a third party booking publicly. Also the daughter needs a thumbs down for sure, that will stop her instant booking or 3rd party booking. A thumbs down is not exactly a huge public naming and shaming, the punishment definitely fits the crime. I do not believe in a million years she did not know her own parents were racists!

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I repeat: I will never quit speaking out when I read racist comments on this forum.

We’ve kicked this dead horse on this thread enough but I’m not agreeing to you dictating to me what I comment on and what I don’t.

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This sweeps the fact that her parents are racists under the carpet. Why protect them and not the innocent black guests just trying to live their lives in peace in the listing?

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I had a read of the Reddit discussion. It’s quite shameful to think the forum has a reputation of being a haven for bigots. We really must remember this is a public forum.

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I believe most of us from colonial nations are racist, purely by accident of birth and being immersed in that culture. My house was built in 1893, only 3 generations past, at that time Britain used to dominate a third of the globe. The queen who supervised the dismantling of the empire still sits on the throne! All I can say of myself is that I try to challenge racism.

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Hear, hear. In fact, hear, hear x 100!

Now, getting back to the original question here. We’ve clearly established that a) it’s not wise to accept third party bookings and b) we all agree with Airbnb’s no-discrimination policy.

Right?

But it seems that the next thing we need to discuss is how responsible are hosts for the opinions of their guests? The OP said:

Apologising for the noise I can understand. Actually I can understand the other part of her sentence too but as hosts, are we really responsible for our guests’ opinions? Of course, we want all our guests to be comfortable and hearing remarks such as those made by the older couple were probably not condusive to making the guests feel at home but where does our responsibility as hosts begin and end?

Just throwing it out there…

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I guess as hosts we’re responsible for creating a safe space both physically and emotionally. We’re also responsible for upholding our own rules and that of the platform. The biggest compliments for me are when vulnerable people such as lone women or the young feel secure in my listing. In short it’s not our fault if another guest is out of order, but it’s our responsibility to deal with it.

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I admit that a couple of weeks ago I had English guests in our downstairs rental and German guests in the upstairs rental (just a few yards away). I felt a bit like Basil Fawlty - don’t mention the war.

Luckily nothing kicked off… :slight_smile:

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Sadly Social change is slow. This thread will not change the world and I seriously doubt it will change any one on this thread.

A positive use of energy is where it can be effective.

Lyrics 1967(?) Everyday people-Sly & the family Stone
“I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can’t figure out the bag I’m in
I am everyday people, yeah, yeah

There is a long hair that doesn’t like the short hair
For being such a rich one, that will not help the poor one
Different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee
Ooh, sha sha
We got to live together…”

Can we try to get along?

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Nope, the AirBnB no-discrimination policy is a big phony.
It has been set up to sooth the leftist snowflakes, but actually achieves nothing.

Any no-disrimination policy that allows discrimination based on political views is useless.
Since I it still allows to discriminate.

I know that Americans are clueless about this part of discrimination,cause they love to discriminate people that vote differently, and think it is normal. But in most other parts of the western world discrimination based on political views is not allowed.

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Oh dear we’ve moved from racism to belittling people in the USA. So much for trying to get along…

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Not everyone on this forum agrees with it but they all agreed to it.

I’ve seen listings that said no fat people, straight couples only, no gays, no pregnant women…but I’ve seen far more listings that explictly say we welcome everyone. I posted on another thread an article about Airbnb as the new NATO. It’s good to be reminded that there are far more good experiences than bad ones on Airbnb and far more welcoming hosts than bigots. It’s two steps forward, one back. Sometimes two back but ultimately progress wins, or at least it always has for the last 6000 years of written history.

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EDIT: Oops, dead horse

I lack (a lot) of experience to comment on the OP rating/3rd party booking dilemma. I will comment however on the racism issue.

I come from 32 solid years in the service industry so I feel inclined to comment on the racism bit, or anything offensive a guest may say or do. I’m also a member of the human race, more importantly. Are we not in the hospitality business for ALL paying guests? Some here think we should engage this guest and let them know what we think of their outrageous, disgusting racist views. I think not. I certainly would never do that in my past jobs nor this one as STR host. Would you engage a customer (guest) in politics, religion, and anything stemming from these views that you didn’t agree with in ANY capacity?

Everyone here has experienced racism and any other sort of revolting opinions expressed by others. Do you immediately go on a tirade against these people making it your personal agenda to dispel their views and change their ways? Their are better more effective outlets to address such issues on a larger, more global medium than attack an individual. You’re not going to change much on this level other than creating an uncomfortable conversation and environment for everyone concerned. And you can’t change one person’s personal experiences, background, history and opinions formed as a result, as @cabinhost pointed out (I think that is what he/she was getting at?). If you think you can, I wish you luck!

@Chris Racism is rampant here in the states, I can attest to that. It’s offensive. People hate Blacks, Mexicans, potential Muslims, just based on the color of their skin alone. Sad but true. I don’t think as people in the hospitality business can we discern from renting our STR to these folks, any more than I can choose not to rent to Indians because I don’t agree with the Caste system. (Which is a part of their cultural history, please take this as the tongue in cheek example it was meant to be, not as an attack on anyone’s ethnicity or culture.)

Of course if the guests are rude to you, abuse your property or house rules, you don’t have to rent to them again or give a good review. But those problems are of a different nature, IMO. The only thing you can really be upset about from a hosting aspect is the LOUD talking in the wee hours of the morning.

If I were the OP, I would apologize to the “black” guests for the loud voices of the other “senior guests”. Feel out the situation. “So sorry my other guests were speaking so loudly this morning, I hope they did not disturb your sleep!” “Did you hear the voices?”. “No?, oh good! They had some pretty crazy opinions that they were getting all fired up about!”
They did hear what was said? “It is so unfortunate that you had to hear this in our home…we were appalled and couldn’t believe some of what we were hearing…”

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I wouldn’t go a tirade against a guest. I would say I didn’t agree and get that convo shut down immediately. I engaged a NJ cab driver last week. He’s a Trump supporter and made a comment about immigrants while a family of spanish speakers was in the cab with us. Shameless. I let him know I didn’t agree but I didn’t go a tirade.

I will continue to call it out when I see forum members excusing racism.

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Yes. Agreed. Nod, nervous brief smile and change topic immediately, or leave the room to do…well…anything else but talk to said guest!

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