What the new AirBnB report says about discrimination

On Tuesday, AirBnB posted a report update the public on his work to “fight discrimination and build inclusion”.

In the report, the company said its “greatest disparity” was in booking success. “The greatest disparity exists between customers perceived as black and customers perceived as white. Our 2021 data shows that customers perceived as black successfully booked their stay of choice 91.4% of the time, compared to 94.1% for customers perceived as white.

According to The New York Times, AirBnB is “testing changes to guest and host profile pages.” Some of these changes include expanding the ability to use instant booking and increasing the company’s ability to analyze booking declines. The report was written by Laura Murphy, a civil rights expert.

The New York Times said he “interviewed half a dozen who shared their stories of what they believed to be racism on the part of the hosts”.

Black travelers said they had previously faced discrimination when using the home-sharing app. Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that in Oregon, names would be blacked out on the app as part of a settlement agreement. Three women said that by requiring full names and profile pictures to be displayed, hosts could then be discriminating. As part of the settlement, AirBnB switched to displaying initials.

Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, told The New York Times“Airbnb is not a perfect company, but it has certainly been better than many other companies.”

According to Market watchthe company removed nearly 4,000 accounts from its website for violating the non-discrimination policy this year.