5 ms·

well people should have figured out by now : Airbnb's aren't hotels. And people should be free to deny others staying at their place, for whatever reason. Airbn

by aikah 10y ago

well people should have figured out by now : Airbnb's aren't hotels. And people should be free to deny others staying at their place, for whatever reason. Airbnb can't have it both ways, they know it and this effort will be pure PR.

ceejayoz 10y ago
> And people should be free to deny others staying at their place, for whatever reason. They are. Once they turn it into a public accommodation - which Title II defines as "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests" - they don't get to do that any more. Don't want to let black people stay in your house? Don't put it on AirBnB.
- aikah 10y ago
  > They are. Once they turn it into a public accommodation - which Title II defines as "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests" - they don't get to do that any more. Are all Airbnbs title II rentals ? I don't think so. That's why Airbnb is successful, because it operates at the "edge" of the law, shifting the risk on both clients and hosts.
  - runako 10y ago
    Title II is explicit: "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence. " If the proprietor is not using the rental as his/her residence, it's defined under US law as a "place of public accommodation," in spite of current efforts to pretend that law doesn't exist. So: not all AirBnB rentals fall under this rubric, but certainly many of them do.
exelius 10y ago
I dunno; I feel Airbnb is really losing control of their product. Most recently, I've noticed a lot of listings of great places for awesome prices... but only if you're willing to rent for 12 months continuously, provide your own furniture and pay a security deposit -- which is just a fucking apartment lease. It makes it hard to find "legit" rentals with so much of this kind of spam filling up the listings. Worse yet, when I went to report such listings (since I'm pretty sure that's not what Airbnb is designed for), I couldn't figure out how to do it in the app. I get that companies want to operate with minimal overhead, but until their listing systems are run by AI that can outsmart unscrupulous humans, it makes their product shittier.
- icebraining 10y ago
  Funny, the "report listing" is easy to find on the site, but it seems to be missing on the app. I wonder if it's a deliberate choice or a bug.
- saiya-jin 10y ago
  this doesn't make sense - you were looking for short term rental and the search was filled with 12-month rentals? ie the airbnb search is broken or the owners was falsely advertising short term availability when only yearly was available?
icebraining 10y ago
Nudging works. Some people are full-on racists, but for many even adding a small hurdle (like having to manually cancel and find an excuse for an instant-booked reservation) is enough to dissuade them without taking away the final say. They do need to up their game when it comes to pre-validating guests, though, since any bad experience will only act as confirmation for the pre-existing bias.
Noos 10y ago
The problem is that this is all actually very murky, and at some point someone is going to sue an AirBnB host for discriminating. There's a lot of people saying stuff here, but ultimately liability will be judged and assessed by a court when a case comes up. And to be honest, a lot of these renters are going to look a lot more like independent contractors than anything. All it will take is one case and judgement against the host, and AirBnB suddenly looks even less attractive. Bad enough your house can get trashed, but for you to lose all your profit having to defend yourself in court or settle out of it won't make it attractive.

by aikah 10y ago

ceejayoz 10y ago

> And people should be free to deny others staying at their place, for whatever reason. They are. Once they turn it into a public accommodation - which Title II defines as "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests" - they don't get to do that any more. Don't want to let black people stay in your house? Don't put it on AirBnB.

aikah 10y ago
> They are. Once they turn it into a public accommodation - which Title II defines as "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests" - they don't get to do that any more. Are all Airbnbs title II rentals ? I don't think so. That's why Airbnb is successful, because it operates at the "edge" of the law, shifting the risk on both clients and hosts.
- runako 10y ago
  Title II is explicit: "any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence. " If the proprietor is not using the rental as his/her residence, it's defined under US law as a "place of public accommodation," in spite of current efforts to pretend that law doesn't exist. So: not all AirBnB rentals fall under this rubric, but certainly many of them do.

exelius 10y ago

I dunno; I feel Airbnb is really losing control of their product. Most recently, I've noticed a lot of listings of great places for awesome prices... but only if you're willing to rent for 12 months continuously, provide your own furniture and pay a security deposit -- which is just a fucking apartment lease. It makes it hard to find "legit" rentals with so much of this kind of spam filling up the listings. Worse yet, when I went to report such listings (since I'm pretty sure that's not what Airbnb is designed for), I couldn't figure out how to do it in the app. I get that companies want to operate with minimal overhead, but until their listing systems are run by AI that can outsmart unscrupulous humans, it makes their product shittier.

icebraining 10y ago
Funny, the "report listing" is easy to find on the site, but it seems to be missing on the app. I wonder if it's a deliberate choice or a bug.
saiya-jin 10y ago
this doesn't make sense - you were looking for short term rental and the search was filled with 12-month rentals? ie the airbnb search is broken or the owners was falsely advertising short term availability when only yearly was available?

icebraining 10y ago

Nudging works. Some people are full-on racists, but for many even adding a small hurdle (like having to manually cancel and find an excuse for an instant-booked reservation) is enough to dissuade them without taking away the final say. They do need to up their game when it comes to pre-validating guests, though, since any bad experience will only act as confirmation for the pre-existing bias.

Noos 10y ago

The problem is that this is all actually very murky, and at some point someone is going to sue an AirBnB host for discriminating. There's a lot of people saying stuff here, but ultimately liability will be judged and assessed by a court when a case comes up. And to be honest, a lot of these renters are going to look a lot more like independent contractors than anything. All it will take is one case and judgement against the host, and AirBnB suddenly looks even less attractive. Bad enough your house can get trashed, but for you to lose all your profit having to defend yourself in court or settle out of it won't make it attractive.