Greg Selden was rejected by an Airbnb host. Being rejected from the rental and lodging service is a normal occurrence, especially if an account is relatively new.
Interestingly enough, Selden, who is black, switched his profile to that of a white person – and that is where he experienced a different reality with the same host, exposing racial disparity on Airbnb.
Who Is Greg Selden?
Selden, a 25-year-old from Virginia, inquired about booking a house from a host who was renting out his Philadelphia property. The host promptly responded by saying that the place wasn’t available. After noticing that that the property was still open to renting after he was denied, he suspected more was at hand than a simple rejection.
Selden decided to make fake profiles with similar stats to his original account. The main difference is that these profiles used pictures of white men.
What Happened When Greg Switched His Profile?
Selden sent inquiries to the same person from his fake accounts, asking for possible accommodations on the exact same date. The requests were accepted. Greg finally confronted the man on the Airbnb app, and the host responded by saying that Greg and people like him “always victimize yourselves” based on skin color. It’s a reflective technique that places the onus of the problem to the perceived victim. It’s a technique that many deem too common.
Sad State of Affairs
There have been studies showing that resumes with “black-sounding” names have a much lower chance of being called for a job opening. It makes sense that this discriminatory logic transfers over to websites like Airbnb.
Airbnb has remarked that the discrepancy may be due to Selden originally reserving one night, while the white profiles asked for two. Many hosts reject applications that only ask for one night stays for a myriad of reasons. Selden refuted these claims, saying that he also requested one night on the fake profiles.
Does Airbnb have a race problem?
Featured image by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine on Flickr available under a Public Domain Dedication license.
