On Tuesday, AirBnB released a report updating the public on its work to “fight discrimination and build inclusion.”
In the report, the company said that its “widest disparity” involved booking success. “The widest disparity exists between guests perceived to be Black and guests perceived to be white. Our 2021 data shows that guests perceived to be Black were able to successfully book the stay of their choice 91.4 percent of the time, versus 94.1 percent for guests perceived to be white.”
According to The New York Times, AirBnB is “testing changes to guest and host profile pages.” Some of these changes include expanding ability to use Instant Book and increasing the company’s capacity to analyze booking rejections. The report was authored by Laura Murphy, a civil rights expert.
The New York Times said it “interviewed a half dozen who shared their accounts of what they believed to be racism on the part of hosts.”
Black travelers have said that they have experienced discrimination while using the home-share app before. Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that in Oregon, names would be hidden on the app as part of a settlement agreement. Three women said that by requiring full names and profile pictures to be shown, that hosts could then discriminate. As part of the settlement, AirBnB switched to showing initials.
Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, said to The New York Times, “Airbnb is not a perfect company, but they’ve certainly been better than many other companies.”
According to Market Watch, the company has removed almost 4,000 accounts from its website for violating the nondiscrimination policy this year.