Airbnb institutes new rules to fight discrimination
Sept 8, 2016 14:31:14 GMT
maria and beautifularizona like this
Post by High Priestess on Sept 8, 2016 14:31:14 GMT
Airbnb institutes new rules to fight discrimination on its platform
See today's New York Times article on this issue:
www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/technology/airbnb-anti-discrimination-rules.html
Other news articles on this:
thehill.com/policy/technology/294957-airbnb-cracking-down-on-discrimination
www.wsj.com/articles/airbnb-promotes-diversity-to-prevent-booking-discrimination-by-hosts-1473343215
www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2016/09/08/airbnb-racism-discrimination-plan/#3c7ed3244b35
techcrunch.com/2016/09/08/airbnb-plan-fix-racism-discrimination/
Excerpt from NY TIMes:
Airbnb introduced several changes on Thursday SEpt 8th 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 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.
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.
“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 Airbnb on the report.
From another article:
The new non-discrimination policy forbids turning down a potential guest because of their “race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.” It also describes in detail how a host must treat an Airbnb user who is disabled and the company’s policies on gender discrimination.
From the Tech Crunch Article:
Airbnb made this statement:
I don't like this at all,...AIrbnb itself should know that simply to say "the space is not available" is the kindest way of turning down someone without getting into an argument or hurting their feelings. In fact, if the host declines the guest for any reason, regardless the reason, it was Airbnb's own policy that they would send the guest a message saying "unfortunately the space is not available" even if that is NOT what the host stated.
this comment from the Wall Street Journal article sums up my views best:
See today's New York Times article on this issue:
www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/technology/airbnb-anti-discrimination-rules.html
Other news articles on this:
thehill.com/policy/technology/294957-airbnb-cracking-down-on-discrimination
www.wsj.com/articles/airbnb-promotes-diversity-to-prevent-booking-discrimination-by-hosts-1473343215
www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2016/09/08/airbnb-racism-discrimination-plan/#3c7ed3244b35
techcrunch.com/2016/09/08/airbnb-plan-fix-racism-discrimination/
Excerpt from NY TIMes:
Airbnb introduced several changes on Thursday SEpt 8th 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 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.
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.
“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 Airbnb on the report.
From another article:
The new non-discrimination policy forbids turning down a potential guest because of their “race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.” It also describes in detail how a host must treat an Airbnb user who is disabled and the company’s policies on gender discrimination.
From the Tech Crunch Article:
Airbnb made this statement:
"In some cases, it appears that these listings were then made available for the same trip to guests of a different race. Going forward, Airbnb will develop a feature to help prevent this from happening. If a host rejects a guest by stating that their space is not available, Airbnb will automatically block the calendar for subsequent reservation requests for that same trip."
I don't like this at all,...AIrbnb itself should know that simply to say "the space is not available" is the kindest way of turning down someone without getting into an argument or hurting their feelings. In fact, if the host declines the guest for any reason, regardless the reason, it was Airbnb's own policy that they would send the guest a message saying "unfortunately the space is not available" even if that is NOT what the host stated.
this comment from the Wall Street Journal article sums up my views best:
“I don’t think there’s a software algorithm you can create that can make people love each other,” said Rashad Robinson from Color of Change.