Airbnb removed thousands of accounts for violating its nondiscrimination policy

Airbnb has removed nearly 4,000 accounts globally this year for violating its nondiscrimination policy, a decrease from the 5,100 accounts removed last year. Roughly 1.2 million users were also either removed from the platform or denied access to Airbnb since June 2020 for failing to commit to its nondiscrimination policy, which asks users to treat one another with respect and without judgment or bias. In comparison, more than 1.3 million users declined to agree to the policy from 2016 to mid-2020. (Airbnb has more than 4 million hosts.) The figures released are part of an update to a platform equity audit that was conducted six years ago. It includes new data from Project Lighthouse, an initiative launched in 2020 to address disparities people of colour experience on Airbnb. The company has long faced claims of hosts on its platform engaging in racism and discrimination.

In 2016, Airbnb committed to a series of product and policy changes to strengthen inclusion, starting with the nondiscrimination policy. “I am encouraged that Airbnb is embracing transparency by using this report to share this data with the public,” Laura Murphy, a senior adviser for Airbnb’s anti-discrimination work, said in the report. Airbnb focused its initial Project Lighthouse findings on its booking success rate, which is the rate at which guests in the U.S. from different perceived racial groups successfully book a listing. The company noted that fewer than 1% of guests and hosts opted out of participating. In 2021, guests perceived to be white had the highest booking success rate at 94.1%, while guests perceived to be Black had a rate of 91.4%. Airbnb says it has invested in its instant book tool to help combat disparity when it comes to booking success rates. Because these types of reservations don’t require a review by the host prior to hitting accept, “bookings are more objective,” according to the company. 

To make the feature more inclusive, Airbnb has changed the available setting options so that hosts can allow guests who are identity-verified to use the instant book tool even if they don’t have prior reviews. Airbnb said it expects at least 5 million more users will be able to use instant book because of the changes. The company found that guests with reviews have a higher booking success rate than guests without reviews. Still, guests perceived to be Black or Latino/Hispanic have fewer reviews than guests perceived to be white or Asian. The company says it is implementing changes that make it easier for all guests to receive reviews after they travel, which it expects will have an “outsized impact” for Black and Latino/Hispanic guests. 

In 2018 Airbnb changed its platform so that hosts can see a guest’s profile picture only after they accept a reservation. Still, Airbnb said the booking success rate for guests perceived to be Black increased only slightly, and the change didn’t appear to have a statistically significant impact on the rate for other perceived races. “We are working to better understand how to increase trust between hosts and guests throughout the reservation process,” the company wrote. That includes exploring changes to host and guest profiles to highlight information that can foster more connection. In a press release accompanying the report, the company wrote, “At the same time, we will further explore the impact that other features may have on the opportunity to create bias.”