Short term rental website airbnb, plagued by claims that its hosts discriminate against minorities, announced policies last week designed to put those problems to rest.
As I wrote a few months ago, this has not been a good year for airbnb. First there was a Harvard study showing that guests with African-American names were 16 percent less likely to successfully book a rental on the website. Guests began complaining of discrimination on social media, a North Carolina host was banned from the site after making racist remarks, and a federal discrimination lawsuit was filed.
Airbnb’s woes are typical for a young company that’s growing quickly – especially a company that uses the sharing economy to do old things in new ways. Uber, for example, avoids discrimination by keeping things anonymous, but it has come under fire for its labor practices and tipping policies. As these companies grow, the policies that worked at their founding need adjustment.
Airbnb has responded to the discrimination issue in a way that shows the young company might not just weather this storm, but might emerge as a leader in developing policies that combat discrimination as the sharing economy grows.
Airbnb undertook a thorough review of its operations, consulting with high profile experts and civil rights organizations. But it also obtained input from hosts and guests. In our customer experience consultancy, we’ve found that this kind of approach is important if you want to create lasting change in an organization’s customer experience. Customer-centric policies must consider the rational, subconscious and emotionalexperiences of customers. These concepts are discussed further in our new book, The Intuitive Customer: 7 Imperatives For Moving Your Customer Experience To The Next Level, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
The result of the review, announced last week, is a new set of policies that airbnb says go above and beyond anti-discrimination measures required under federal law. For starters, all airbnb users must sign a new “Community commitment” beginning November 1st. It requires users to “commit to treat all members of this community, regardless of race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age, with respect, and without judgment or bias.”
Other changes at airbnb include:
· A permanent team of researchers, data scientists, engineers and designers to advance inclusion and identify bias.
· Increasing the use of instant book listings, which don’t require hosts to vet their guests in advance.
· Reducing the importance of profile photos. The site has been criticized for emphasizing photos that hosts can use to discriminate.
· An Open Doors policy in which Airbnb will find accommodations for anyone who isn’t able to book a rental because of discrimination.
· Anti-bias training for hosts.
· An improved way of dealing with complaints.
In my view, Airbnb has done the right thing. They have faced the complaints head-on, taking a strong stand against discrimination and conducting a thorough evaluation of the company’s practices. They have created new policies company wide which demonstrates that the company cares about their customers and is willing to change as it grows. Furthermore, they have established a way to monitor bias and complaints and continue to make changes. This is similar to what we do when we design a customer experience program.
It will remain to be seen how airbnb’s policies affect actual or perceived discrimination by hosts. It won’t be easy to eliminate discrimination among a wide network of hosts who each have their own biases.
But for now, at least, it appears that airbnb has risen to the occasion and turned a public relations nightmare into an opportunity to be leaders and agents of change.
Do you think airbnb has done the right thing? Have they gone far enough? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
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Colin Shaw is the founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world’s leading Customer experience consultancy & training organizations. Colin is an international author of five bestselling books and an engaging keynote speaker.
Follow Colin Shaw on Twitter @ColinShaw_CX