Discrimination in Airbnb bookings

An internal report from Airbnb  revealed that guests who are perceived to be Black had a lower success in booking rental listings.

Transcript

00:00An Airbnb internal report confirms what some travelers of color have been saying for years,

00:04that they face discrimination when booking or staying in vacation rentals through the site.

00:09So what did the report reveal and what is Airbnb doing to help?

00:11Brute can explain in less than 60 seconds.

00:13Published data showed that guests who were perceived to be white

00:16secured their desired rental at a rate of 94.1 percent,

00:19while guests who are perceived to be black only secured their desired rental at 91.4 percent.

00:24Airbnb said to fight this discrimination,

00:26the site is removing some human factors from the booking process.

00:30This includes testing a variety of changes to both guest and host profiles,

00:34such as allowing more guests to use the instant book feature,

00:37which if allowed by the rental's host, allows guests to immediately make bookings

00:41without obtaining permission from the host if that guest meets certain requirements.

00:45Airbnb will also expand profile reviewing and investigate reservation rejections at a higher

00:49rate. The report also indicated nearly 4,000 accounts have been removed from the site worldwide

00:54in 2022 for violating its non-discrimination policy.