oh, sorry to hear that 
x
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Yup! I see no evidence that having a heartfelt conversation with an AIrbnb host during an overnight stay is gonna magically cure someone of racism; in fact, such strategies will often further entrench bigots, but I know for sure that damaging someone’s reputation will keep them from hurting others as easily as they otherwise might have. Regardless, dealing with someone who sees you as subhuman does damage to your mental health, and I do not exist to convince others of my humanity. If anybody else feels like doing that, fine, but you’re likely wasting your time just so you can pat yourself on the back for being open-minded. These monsters can go to therapy if they feel like changing since therapists actually get paid to do that kind of stuff. I just change the sheets and keep the lights on.
You and I have radically different definitions of the word “sweet.” She sounds hateful as hell to me. What, did she say the n-word with a smile?
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yeah, I took a risk starting that story.
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We traveled to LA about 10 years ago and were having dinner at a restaurant that night. The obsequious waiter was dribbling over us and asked us what the tourists had done that day. We told him we had traveled by bus to the zoo. He was horrified and said Nobody gets on the bus because of the people who traveled on it. We had used the bus service since we arrived…
Anyway - next day, got on the bus and noted the we were the only non Brown passengers.
Colour blind Aussies for you… literally had not noticed and continued to think nothing of it! The waiter didn’t get much of a tip😜
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We find it is common practise here to get bookings by a registered AirBNB guest where the person or people staying is/are actually someone else - e.g. parents, a colleague etc.
The person booking has always stated this up front.
We then write our reviews accordingly:
“This review is not for Sally - it is for her parents - Lorraine and Jim. Sally made this booking for them.”
We find this is most common among Asian guests.
The most common issue this presents for us is that the parents have not read the Listing, the House Rules etc and often have no idea about the whole concept of AirBNB.
I would most definitely advise disclosing this and being absolutely honest about all details.
We can confirm this is successful for us and AirBNB has been supportive on every occasion where we have required help.
The time to call them on it was at the moment the remark was uttered. Using a review to shame their daughter doesn’t seem to have much purpose.
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I have a racist uncle. It’s extremely embarrassing. The problem is that he doesn’t even see himself as racist. Everyone lives in their own little bubble. I wouldn’t book an airbnb for him. The daughter probably knows her dad is racist. I think private feedback would be appropriate. I doubt she would make the same mistake twice.
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Mr Mouthy was white! He was commenting loudly about black neighborhoods with another black guest present. So it is a discrimination issue.
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3rd party bookings are not supported by Airbnb and it’s best not to accept them or admit you’ve accepted them!
Sometimes as a host it’s best to time your battles. Recently I had a guest who broke my kitchen rules by going in after 10pm. He knew full well he was breaking the rules (thought he could charm me into not minding), so there was no point in raising it during the visit because that would have been unpleasant. I did mention it in the review though, along with a security issue he caused. He sent me a message feeling sorry afterwards, but you know what, he CHOSE to break the rules, knowing the host wrote them for a reason, thinking he knew better and that he was so wonderful the rules wouldn’t apply to him. Think again.
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To be more accurate, it’s a prejudice issue. Discrimination is an action which may or may not be based on race. Prejudice is an attitude. The guest showed by his words that he was racist and prejudiced. Whether he would discriminate against someone in real life is another matter.
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I thank you for posting much of what i wanted to post on this subject. After a few glasses of vino I now am not tempted to splurge a tirade of unfathonmable “stuff’ no one can comprehend.
Ps. As hosts we can only witness guests’ behaviour/comments. If we judge it racism, we can disagree or not and decide if we would ever want their like again. We have no right, other than disagreement, to do anything else. FREEDOM OF SPEECH for all, no matter their views.
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I stand corrected.
But my suggestions remain the same.
I think freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. But in the context of what goes on under my roof, respect for my home and those who are in it is my expectation.
My story, and I’m sticking to it.
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Where are you? Do you live in the south or are you making a judgement based upon sadly overstated stories in the press?
Please realize, you are talking about my people and me. As a Caucasian woman with 2 bachelor degrees (one from a historically black college) and a master’s, I find comments that portray people in this area as bucolic and bigoted troubling. There are people everywhere whether they admit it or not who feel superior to others. Please don’t join them by looking down on me.
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I don’t live in the South but the worst examples I’ve personally experienced have been in the South. All in the South, no. The problem with stereotypes is that they can’t be used with individuals, ever. So there might be a trend or pattern in the south but we can’t assume about you because you are an individual. And there are always the anecdotes about other areas. I was in Indiana in 1999 the first time I saw a Klan symbol IRL.
You might find this map interesting.
What I now see as the patteren isn’t regions of the country, it’s rural vs urban. The south is no longer the “solid South” (all Democratic party from 1860-1960); it’s solid R except in cities and areas that are mostly Black.
Anyway the irony is that the OP’s orginal story is set in Maine. No idea where the loud guy was from or the city he was talking about.
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Mr Loudmouth was speaking about his time spent in Bridgeport CT 30 some odd years ago.
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I had surgery this week, not planned but advised my guests and told them my hubby would look after them.
My children were popping in and out chatting about the guests and making sure the husband was ok.
Both groups left today and both lads mentioned the lady downstairs and how lovely she was. She had told my youngest he was great as he helped make scones for her and the other guests. The other couple were delighted to try home made irish oat bread. Me being bored and nosey was asking questions about them. It was only after check out that the youngest mentioned they were both non white and black. I thought it was nice that not once was colour mentioned by either children or my husband. It was just personality and how nice both groups were. My youngest has no filter yet and i like that he never felt it in any way relevant to mention the colour of guests.
I really do believe that airbnb has helped them to not see colour as relevant to a person. They were exposed to different races, religions and sexuality for 3 years now. They tell me about racist jokes or homophobic jokes kids share in school and they are aware that its not right to make these jokes. We had a lovely gay guy stay about 5 weeks, 2 yrs ago and they still mention him, as they really liked him and we used to go out shopping with him.
Exposing children to a multi cultural society from a young age, breaks down the barriers and fears people have. In Europe, there is growing hatred groups against immigrants, muslims and non nationals. It worries me to see such hatred when you dont even know the person.
I remember seeing footage from usa soldiers liberating the camps after ww2 and in one camp, the officers in charge knew the allies were coming but just gased prisoners of war, jews or anybody who was in the camps. You just see hands underneath the doors trying to escape. This particular camp had about 20 different nationalities and people of all colour, race and religion. Although its pretty horrific to see the footage, its sad to think that people dont learn from our history.
In europe we get people who pay smugglers to bring them in boats from africa, every summer 100’s of people drown in the crossing, even little children. You read comments after the articles in the newspapers and people say things like good ridance, hopefully more boats will sink. I dont understand where this hatred comes from, as an irish person i am well aware of how we have had to flee famine and poverty, other countries took us in and gave our young the chance of life.
Its just a sad state of affaires to see racism and xenophobia alive and growing
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