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5 November, 2019

Airbnb, Vrbo hosts in hot water for naming and shaming guests on Facebook

London, UK - August 01, 2018: The buttons of Airbnb, Kindle, eBay, Music and Twitter on the screen of an iPhone.

By Alexandra Coulton

Thousands of Airbnb and Vrbo hosts are naming and shaming guests in closed Facebook groups, according to a new report from Skift.

The hosts are taking to the groups to gossip about their guests and share their personal information and photos, the site revealed.

Groups such as Airbnb Host Community – Vent, Recommend, and Discuss and Airbnb Guests Blacklist are being used by hosts to expose guests who they consider to be problems. It is also being reported the hosts often rant about not wanting to rent to Chinese people, those older than 70, retired women travellers and other groups.

Hosts regularly break Airbnb community guidelines by sharing private messages between themselves and their guests on the groups, which Skift said have thousands of members.

Airbnb Host Community, a group which runs AirHost Academy and Airbnb Guest Blacklist and is unaffiliated with Airbnb, is being investigated by Facebook which shut down Airbnb Guest Blacklist within hours of Skift alerting the social media platform of the group.

“When you post, please give as much details about the incident as well as searchable personal information about this guest or members of their group as much as possible so future hosts can use this to make better judgments on whether to accept a booking or not,” Airbnb Guests Blacklist told potential members, according to Skift.

Business Insider reported that one host on Airbnb Host Community – Vent Recommend, and Discuss posted a conversation with a potential guest from the Philippines, which included a photo and other private information.

“Hi. I would like to know if it’s fine if I will bring a guy in one of my stays? Just in case I was able to hook up with any guys there? Thanks,” the potential guest reportedly said.

The host included a caption on the message ridiculing the potential guest based on his sexual orientation.

“So I go into the app and I see this crap. I’m like ‘Seriously Lil’ Dude…like wtf? My finger went into the Decline button so fast that it felt like my ex-wife was calling. LMAO,” the host said.

In another post, a woman reportedly shared a photo showing one of her guests urinating in her backyard along with the guest’s name.

“These pigs cannot bother going inside to use the toilet and are peeing all over my yard,” the host said.

Travel Weekly has approached Airbnb for comment.

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