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Post by High Priestess on Jun 27, 2016 3:59:38 GMT
See the article: www.vocativ.com/332861/another-sex-worker-accuses-airbnb-of-banning-her/For a couple weeks, Arianna Travaglini says she tried to book an Airbnb rental for an upcoming trip to Baltimore for their LGBT Pride celebrations, but the hosts she contacted weren’t responding to her messages. When she clicked the “Instant Book” button, she kept getting error messages. So Travaglini, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, contacted Airbnb’s customer service team. On Wednesday, she says she received an email notifying her that her account had been disabled. The message read, “Please understand that we are not obligated to provide an explanation for the action taken against your account.” But Travaglini thinks she knows why she’d been banned: She does sex work under the persona Andre Shakti, and the two names can be easily linked with a quick online search. “I think I was banned because they found out … that I do sex work,” she told Vocativ. “All it is is profiling.” Travaglini has used Airbnb for over two years, under her legal name, and says she’s only ever gotten positive reviews from her hosts. “I have always used the website for leisure, vacation-related travel—never worked out of the location, never advertised that my other persona was going to be at the location,” she said. Travaglini also has emphasized that the sex work she does is strictly legal—she performs in pornography and works as a dominatrix, beating up and wrestling guys, as she puts it. |
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 27, 2016 4:04:21 GMT
I think this is really unfortunate. I also think it's wrong of Airbnb to take this action and ban someone on the basis of their work -- if indeed that is the reason -- though of course they won't tell. In fact, at least in the state of California (though not nationally) it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of a person's employment, in housing, where such laws apply. I just don't see that Arianna would have been any problem to anyone, or cause any harm -- and banning such a person also strikes me as quite un-San Francisco of Airbnb, since people like Arianna are part of the colorful culture of the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Jun 27, 2016 12:45:17 GMT
I really wonder about this. It seems that this level of scrutiny requires human interaction so it seems unlikely to me that it's done on any regular basis unless they have some script that does an extra search as part of the verification process. So I guess that one of her "good reviews" actually reported her, or mentioned something in the review process, that dialogue box where it's "anything to tell airbnb about this guest?"
I don't have any experience with sex workers, and I don't know any personally but honestly, I'd be uncomfortable hosting someone who is publicly identified as such. How could I possibly know that it's an adult actress taking a lovely holiday? Because she said so? I don't think that anyone actually wanting to rent a place instead of a hotel is going to be upfront about it and say "looking for a cheap place to turn tricks, your place looks great".
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 27, 2016 13:11:20 GMT
Yes, it's possible Milu that she could have been turning tricks in host's homes -- it's hard to know. The problem is that for someone in that type of work, staying at places, that is going to be a suspicion that they can't really ever put to rest. However, I would think that if she books a private room in a shared house, where the host is generally home, it's not likely she could get away with turning tricks there. WHich for someone like Arianna seems to be what she would need to do. There are certain consequences to doing such work and having one's name public while doing it -- I think that was a mistake -- better to have always used a pseudonym and not connected her work with her real name.
So, while it's possible she was booted because she did some sex work at a host's home, it's also possible that she actually did book private rooms in shared homes, and unfortunately picked a host who Googled her name, found her business, and made a false claim that she turned tricks at the host's home. Some people are much more vulnerable to being demonized. Someone doing this kind of work seems like one such.
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Post by helgaparis on Jun 27, 2016 15:00:47 GMT
I would guess that one of the hosts she contacted and who did not answer, flagged her or called airbnb after googling the name.
Someone was zealous.
I can't imagine that a host would leave a food teview and then call airbnb or send a mail.
I don't believe that anyone reads the private remarks about a guest, if there is no incident.
Living in France, I drink my coffe in a bistro, where beside me may work a politician on his files or sit a lady who will make ends meet by occasionally selling her charms. The lady is more fun to talk to ;-)
As long as she does not work from my home, I see no reason not to rent to the sex worker. I suppose she will create a new profile ...
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 27, 2016 15:46:29 GMT
Living in France, I drink my coffe in a bistro, where beside me may work a politician on his files or sit a lady who will make ends meet by occasionally selling her charms. The lady is more fun to talk to ;-)
Isn't it true!!  |
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Post by helgaparis on Jun 27, 2016 17:15:14 GMT
I would guess that one of the hosts she contacted and who did not answer, flagged her or called airbnb after googling the name.
Someone was zealous.
I can't imagine that a host would leave a food teview and then call airbnb or send a mail.
I don't believe that anyone reads the private remarks about a guest, if there is no incident.
Living in France, I drink my coffe in a bistro, where beside me may work a politician on his files or sit a lady who will make ends meet by occasionally selling her charms. The lady is more fun to talk to ;-)
As long as she does not work from my home, I see no reason not to rent to the sex worker. I suppose she will create a new profile ...
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Post by carolyn on Jun 28, 2016 1:06:33 GMT
I once declined a booking request from a guest who was a sex worker. I don't think I'm overly prudish; I just wasn't comfortable with it, like Milu.
This was for the private room in my house, but even for my separate studio, I think I'd decline.
I wouldn't feel great about declining, but I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 28, 2016 2:34:59 GMT
I can't say I would accept someone who I knew in advance was a sex worker -- if a guest stated that, it is possible I'd decline her not on the basis of her work but with concern about her poor judgement/boundaries -- and with worry that if she freely told me about such a thing, she might tell other guest/s she met at my house, which could lead to other kinds of problems for me, if that made some uncomfortable. I also dont' think a guest who was in this work, would be likely to offer that information. And if asked what her career was, such a guest would probably tell a host she owned her own small business, and not offer details.
It would be my hope that a guest of this type would intentionally seek out hosts and/or listings that seemed to fit with her lifestyle. There are such listings and hosts out there! I think just like hosts can't assume that every guest will be suitable for them, guests also can't assume any host or listing would be a good fit for them. That's where the fact that we are not hotels comes into play.....
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Post by High Priestess on Aug 6, 2016 15:06:48 GMT
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Post by keith on Aug 7, 2016 18:09:54 GMT
I once declined a booking request from a guest who was a sex worker. I don't think I'm overly prudish; I just wasn't comfortable with it, like Milu. This was for the private room in my house, but even for my separate studio, I think I'd decline. I wouldn't feel great about declining, but I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting. I had a guest who was apparently a sex worker. He got banned, not because of that, but because when he left he took a bunch of things with him. I don't have a problem with people making a living .. I agree with George Carlin, "Why is it illegal to sell something that's perfectly legal to give away--giving someone an orgasm is hardly the worst thing in the world." I think with a shared room listing one needs to be concerned with other people in the building. If there is someone bringing random people in who no one knows anything about, this presents a risk and so it shouldn't be done. However, if someone does sex work but is staying for a vacation they should be given the same consideration as anyone else. I had a massage therapist want to book the room for a weekend and have clients in the room throughout the day. I just don't want strangers for whom there isn't really a trail back to them having access to spaces other guests may be using. I told him, he's welcome to stay but he can't have random customers coming and going. it also doesn't look good to neighbors and they aren't people visiting here to enjoy the neighborhood. |
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Post by keith on Aug 7, 2016 18:12:45 GMT
On Wednesday, she says she received an email notifying her that her account had been disabled. The message read, “Please understand that we are not obligated to provide an explanation for the action taken against your account.” This is the really disturbing part... AirBnB doesn't tell people when they "ghost" their listing or their account.. you just get strange meaningless error messages and are left thinking there's some bug. It's dishonest in my opinion. I also think they are obligated to provide an explanation. While their terms of service may state that they don't, people have the right to know what they did to cause adverse responses, especially from a corporation. The Corporate policy needs to be clearly stated and they should point to specific violations. Customers need to pressure them to be more transparent. Sadly, they're big enough that pissing off a few individuals will have no affect on their bottom line. |
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Post by High Priestess on Aug 7, 2016 19:24:47 GMT
I agree Keith....with both your points. I dont' agree with Airbnb blatantly discriminating against people based on their profession...and S/M sex work is LEGAL in California! IT's illegal in California to discriminate against someone in housing based on their source of income.
I also think it's reprehensible to ban people from the site without explanation. It's very far from the "belonging" Airbnb touts. It's unkind. I can understand it from a strictly legal point of view, why they might do this, legally -- to protect themselves legally it is better to not give a reason for terminating accounts -- but that doesn't make it ethically right. I hate that the abuse of our legal system, and the deep flaws in our legal system, have made it so that far too often people and corporations end up doing things simply to protect themselves from legal action. It shouldn't be that way.
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