http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/te...ules.html?_r=0
quote:
Airbnb Adopts Rules in Effort to Fight Discrimination by Its Hosts
By KATIE BENNERSEPT. 8, 2016
SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb introduced several changes on Thursday to combat discrimination in its short-term rental policy, after facing months of criticism that its hosts are easily able to reject potential renters based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, age or disability.
In a 32-page report, Airbnb, based in San Francisco, said that it would institute a new nondiscrimination policy that goes beyond what is outlined in several anti-discrimination laws and that it would ask all users to agree to a “community commitment” starting on Nov. 1. The commitment asks people to work with others who use the service, “regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age.”
In addition, the company plans to experiment with reducing the prominence of user photos, which have helped signal race and gender. Airbnb said it would also accelerate the use of instant bookings, which lets renters book places immediately without host approval.
The actions are a response by Airbnb to questions about discrimination that have threatened to cloud the company’s fast growth. In December, Harvard University researchers released a working paper that concluded it was harder for guests with African-American-sounding names to rent rooms through the site. Several Airbnb users shared stories on social media this year saying that they had been denied a booking because of their race.
In May, Gregory Selden, who is African-American, filed a class-action discrimination suit against the company, saying that he had been denied a place to stay because of his race.
Laura Murphy, a former director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office who was hired by Airbnb to compile the report, said the company’s chief executive, Brian Chesky, acknowledged that it had been too slow to address discrimination.
“There have been too many unacceptable instances of people being discriminated against on the Airbnb platform because of who they are or what they look like,” Ms. Murphy wrote in the report.
Airbnb has also assembled a permanent team of engineers whose purpose is to root out bias in the way the company functions. Airbnb now routes discrimination complaints to a group of trained specialists. Apart from Ms. Murphy, the company has brought in advisers including a former United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., and John Relman, a civil rights attorney based in Washington.
Founded in August 2008, Airbnb has connected more than 60 million guests with short-term rentals in more than 34,000 cities and 191 countries. The privately held company is valued at $25 billion, and its expansion has depended partly on the idea that it could be a global company, providing a broad range of people with places to stay when they travel.
“While Airbnb did not accept all of the recommendations we offered, they did thoughtfully consider them, and this report is evidence of that,” said Wade Henderson, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which advised on the report.
The report, he said, “is an important first step that shows an openness to considering far-reaching solutions to reducing discrimination on the Airbnb platform.”
And this is the email I got from Airbnb today:
quote:
Dear Airbnb community,
At the heart of our mission is the idea that people are fundamentally good and every community is a place where you can belong. We don’t say this because it sounds nice. It’s the goal that everyone at Airbnb works towards every day – because we’ve all seen how when we live together, we better understand each other.
Discrimination is the opposite of belonging, and its existence on our platform jeopardizes this core mission. Bias and discrimination have no place on Airbnb, and we have zero tolerance for them. Unfortunately, we have been slow to address these problems, and for this I am sorry. I take responsibility for any pain or frustration this has caused members of our community. We will not only make this right; we will work to set an example that other companies can follow.
In June, we asked Laura Murphy, the former head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington D.C. Legislative Office, to review every aspect of the Airbnb platform, and to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to fight bias and discrimination. Thanks to Laura’s leadership, today we’re releasing a report that outlines the results of that process. You can read the full report here, but I’d like to highlight four changes that will impact the way our platform works:
Airbnb Community Commitment
Beginning November 1, everyone who uses Airbnb must agree to a stronger, more detailed nondiscrimination policy. We aren’t just asking you to check a box associated with a long legal document. We’re asking everyone to agree to something we’re calling the Airbnb Community Commitment, which says:
We believe that no matter who you are, where you are from, or where you travel, you should be able to belong in the Airbnb community. By joining this community, you commit to treat all fellow members of this community, regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age, with respect, and without judgment or bias.
Open Doors
We’ll be implementing a new policy called Open Doors. Starting October 1st, if a Guest anywhere in the world feels like they have been discriminated against in violation of our policy – in trying to book a listing, having a booking canceled, or in any other interaction with a host – we will find that Guest a similar place to stay if one is available on Airbnb, or if not, we will find them an alternative accommodation elsewhere. This program will also apply retroactively to any Guest who reported discrimination prior to today. All of these Guests will be offered booking assistance for their next trip.
Instant Book
We’ll increase the availability of Instant Book, which allows our hosts to offer their homes to be booked immediately without their prior approval of a specific guest. Instant Book makes booking easier for everyone, and our goal is to have 1 million listings bookable via Instant Book by January 1st, 2017.
Anti-bias training
We are working with experts on bias, including Dr. Robert Livingston of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Dr. Peter Glick of Lawrence University, to make anti-bias training available to our community, and will be publicly acknowledging those who complete it.
These steps are just the beginning, not the end, of our efforts to combat bias and discrimination.
While we as a company have been slow on this issue, I am now asking you the community to help us lead the way forward. Every time you make someone else feel like they belong, that person feels accepted and safe to be themselves. While this may sound like a small act of kindness, we are a community of millions of people strong. Imagine what we can do together.
Brian Chesky
CEO, Co-founder
I thought this was interesting because of my fledgling attempts at using them. A year ago my wife, who is a minority, made an account to find places in the northeast and we had a lot of refusals before we settled on an instant book. Of course, we don't know why the various counter-parties declined. But this last summer when we were traveling again, I made an account with my lily-white face (and with a tie, no less) to minimize any discrimination we might face. We had little trouble with the housing but still had trouble with a p2p car rental. That's all anecdotal and totally inconclusive, but it's obvious that discrimination is easy to do in the 'sharing economy' that encourages users to post their photo. For a long time, I wouldn't put a photo on LinkedIn, because minority users might be at a disadvantage in an environment where everyone includes a photo. But, when the chips were down and I was looking for work, I went ahead and put up the photo.
For Airbnb, the counter-measure that looks most effective to me is Instant Book. Pledges and training probably don't move the needle, but if they can give people a financial incentive to surrender their option to discriminate, that could make the service better.