Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by k-mcgrady 4506 days ago
Very interesting however they could have easily provided some more conclusive proof. The author should have tried booking one of the places that turned Brandon down on the same dates. If he had been offered the place it would haave been more clear racism was in play. I'm not denying racism was in play (although the UberX example seems quite silly - personally I'd be happy to get a driver that didn't talk to me and the one time I've used Uber the driver wasn't very talkative) but I'd like to see the author try my suggestion and follow up the post.
4 comments
pilom 4506 days ago
Even if he had done this though, its possible the hosts simply had the rule of thumb "I only rent to people who have rented before and have reviews." The OP has used the service many times and likely had numerous positive reviews, his friend was a first time user. Not a fair comparison.
link
2drew3 4506 days ago
I should have done this. But I didn't have this experience to prove a point. Truthfully, I was mostly embarrassed that my suggestion wasn't working and immediately kicked into "find my friend an alternate place" mode. This entire post is not proof and completely anecdotal. I'm the first to admit that. But I hope this audience of entrepreneurs will think about issues like this.
link
k-mcgrady 4506 days ago
Totally understand and I'm glad you wrote it. I'd like to see someone take on the challenge and come back with some proof. It seems from your account that Brandon had just set up a new AirBnb account - is it possible he was rejected because he had no history?
link
2drew3 4506 days ago
Possible. However, I recommended AirBnB to several Asian and Caucasian friends who never heard of it before (I'm from GA). Few just showed up in SF and booked same day with no problems. Not one bad experience, except this time. Fully acknowledge it's a limited sample. I'd like to see someone take the same challenge. I'd also like AirBnB data scientists to take a tough look.
link
SheepSlapper 4506 days ago
I kept waiting for him to get on the apps and try to book the same places himself, and when it didn't happen I was kind of disappointed. It's like you say, if he got approved then there was definitely some racism at play. If not, then it was just bad timing. But since he didn't try it, we can only speculate.
link
makaveli8 4506 days ago
That's a great idea - that would have been damning evidence.
link