Update: Airbnb has since responded to the incident. Their reaction has been included below.
Some may view this as perceived discrimination, and others will find offence in the tone of the Airbnb host from Camps Bay who has recently been involved in an incident that has since gone viral.
A Twitter user who only identifies herself as Ammarah took to the social media platform to tell about an experience her brother, Ziyaad Esack, had when he tried to book accommodation on AirBnB.
Airbnb host embroiled in discrimination incident with Muslim
Ammarah shared screenshot images of the conversation that took place between Ziyaad and the host of an AirBnB apartment that is listed at “Amazing views, Camps Bay Apartment for six people” on the site.
In it, Ziyaad introduced himself as a person from Saudi Arabia who is looking to visit South Africa between June and August. He took interest in the apartment because of its location and what he did not anticipate was the response of the Airbnb host.
The host blatantly responded with,
“Your friends trashed my house last year, so I can not rent the apartment to you, sorry.”
A confused Ziyaad replied to the host, stating his confusion and asked for the names of these ‘friends’ of his that coincidentally trashed the one apartment he was trying to book for his holiday.
What the host did not know is that Ziyaad is actually a South African citizen who works in Saudi Arabia. Not aware of this, this is what the host said in response to Ziyaad’s question about these ‘friends’.
“It is very strange for me that you would like the apartment for similar dates as your friends last year. Why do you want to stay in Cape Town for so long during winter? it’s freezing here then!
“Are you going to learn English here? There were a lot of Mohammeds. I can’t remember every name as there were ten of them and they stayed last year.”
Perceived discrimination or an exercise of the host’s rights?
After Ziyaad accused the host of discriminating against him based on his race and religious background, the host went into denial mode.
The conversation carries on between the two and you can view it below but Ammarah, Ziyaad’s sister, pleaded with the accommodation service to act on the issue with urgency.
Airbnb has since responded to the incident, stating that they have removed the host from their service platform.
“Discrimination has no place on Airbnb and goes against everything our community stands for. We have removed the host from our platform and are providing the guest with support through our Open Doors initiative.” the accommodation service giant said.
You can view the interaction between Ziyaad and the host below.
So my brother tries to book a place through Airbnb and this is what the host has to say. I do hope that @Airbnb @AirbnbHelp will do something about it. 1/32392:30 PM – Jan 21, 2019656 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy
