The challenges of AirBnBing while Black -- and in Anacostia.
The Advoc8te highly recommends reading
this article on NPR. It mentions Anacostia AirBnBs and the challenges of racial bias on the platform. It is eye opening but definitely not surprised to people of color and for participants in the AirBnB platform. The Advoc8te has heard some real horror stories from Anacostia AirBnB hosts (both black and white) who encountered fearful AirBnB guests ("Oh my god, the neighborhood demographics isn't what I expected -- will I be safe?!") and at times bigoted AirBNB guests ("I'm a very white man and this neighborhood is very black neighborhood, I don't feel safe at all.")
We may have come a long way in race relations but we clearly have a long way to go. No surprise to most people of color and no surprise to us living east of the river but still disturbing none the less.
Go
HERE to read the full article.
Excerpt:
Quirtina Crittenden was struggling to get a room on Airbnb. She would send a request to a host. Wait. And then get declined.
"The hosts would always come up with excuses like, 'oh, someone actually just booked it' or 'oh, some of my regulars are coming in town, and they're going to stay there,'" Crittenden said. "But I got suspicious when I would check back like days later and see that those dates were still available."
In many ways Crittenden, 23, is the target audience for AirBnb. She's young, likes to travel, and has a good paying job as a business consultant in Chicago. So she started to wonder if it had something to do with her race. Crittenden is African American, and on AirBnb, both hosts and guests are required to have their names and photos prominently displayed on their profiles.
Crittenden shared her frustrations on Twitter with the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack. She started hearing from lots of friends who had similar experiences.