A Harvard Business School report published earlier this year (here and here) found “widespread discrimination” by Airbnb hosts who were less likely to accept bookings from guests whose names sounded distinctly black. The indications of this study continued to ring true on social media as reports by African-American travelers told of their attempts at booking Airbnb stays that were either denied or canceled because of their race, popularizing the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack.
The Harvard Business School report mentioned:
In a field experiment on Airbnb, we find that requests from guests with distinctively African-American names are roughly 16% less likely to be accepted than identical guests with distinctively White names. The difference persists whether the host is African-American or White, male or female.
Now, the home-sharing company is taking affirmative steps to at least examine the issue, according to a report by The Washington Post that the company has hired a consultant and former head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, Laura Murphy, to lead the examination for Airbnb.
“We can’t control all the biases of all of our users but we want to make clear that discrimination is against everything we stand for,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post.
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Unfortunately, racial segregation is still practiced in the world, and that is a fact. That’s why we have to think about this and find a solution. I have managed to read many notes on racial segregation here https://studydriver.com/racial-segregation-essay/ and it was not easy for me because of the horror I read there . That’s why it’s better to be prepared in advance, but everyone should know that. There are some very good notes on this subject that cover it succinctly.
Matt: Ben here, coauthor of the study discussed in the original post. At pages 9-10 we discuss how we selected the names and what it means for a name to distinctively connote a race. In short, this is based on the frequency of names from birth certificates — certain names that are much more likely to be one race than another.
Just goes to show the importance of name choice for your children. How does a name sound “distinctly black?” If by “distinctly black” the study is referring to made up names with punctuation in them, then yes, I can see the applicant having a more difficult time renting an apartment or finding gainful employment than someone with a biblically derived name. Read Freakonomics. Listen to Bill Cosby (actually don’t). Don’t stunt your kids with ridiculous names, and that goes for you too Gwyneth Paltrow.
Interesting to see what they make of this. conscious/subconscious racial bias is unfortunately very difficult to overcome. Legally this is very interesting as my understanding is that the FHA does not apply if people are renting a room in a shared residence but would apply if people are renting a residence when they will not be there.