International Living, Marriage & Travel

For those of you who are not familliar with Airbnb, it's a service company that let's you rent a guestroom at a home where other people live. Basicaly you pay to be a temporary guest to that family, with bed and a bath and whatever other they offer. For London, where the motel and hotel prices are sky high, Airbnb is really practical to use.
If you are a traveller you create an account and profile at Airbnb and apply to a room from the selections.
However lately there have been problems with Airbnb, not only between guests and homeowners (producing a variety of tales of what can go wrong), but also in terms of an apparent racist bias.

Since the owner of the house you apply to can see your profile (where some users choose to put on a real photo) you have a 16% more chance (according to a Harvard business school study) to get a rejection for your application for a room if you have distinct African roots (so if you are black and have a real profile picture on) or if your name sounds too foreign by 'white' standards.
The same bias appears when black owners list their houses on Airbnb.

Many users tend to change their name slightly, basicaly shortening it into a more culturally ambiguous name, and delete any real picture of themselves to make it possible to get an acceptance.

In this case, I'd look for other lodgings instead of looking to AirBnB. There are other local inns that may provide cheaper rates and friendlier hosts than those listed in the website. If I have my own establishment, I really wouldn't care who you are as long as you're a good houseguest. The idea of welcoming foreigners is not just simply for your own income but for the country's sake. If their own population is not as welcoming as they should be, tourism in the country will suffer.

It's pretty sad that racism even has a place on that app. It's such a great resource and some people are being left out of good deals and guesthouses/rooms because of it. But it's a also a very good litmus test to see if that host is welcoming or even a good one.

My advice to such issue of racism is to be used to it. You are just making yourself angry. In this thread about Airbnb when an owner of the room discriminates you then that is his right as you have your right to live too. But you cannot force the owner to accept you if he doesn't like your face. It is as simple as that. Pardon me, no offense meant to any race.

I have never used AirBnB service as a traveller or as a homeowner. However, I can understand the issue of racism. About 15 years ago, when I was going to a 5 star hotel in my home city for a seminar, the watchman stopped me at the gate because I was not "white." They believed that only white people can pay. This is racism, I was misbehaved in my own country because I was not white. You cannot control everyone's thought.

This is crazy. There is no place for this kind of behavior in these times we are living.

I really wouldn't be bothered by that info since there are a lot of options to choose from anyway, and if you don't have an option in Air BnB, there are lots of hotels and motels out there.

We cannot change people's perceptions. I am a Hindu, I don't eat beef or pork. Would I allow a Christain to rent my home? Probably, not. How can I allow someone who eats cows to stay in the hose of a cow worshipper. Would you call this racism?