Airbnb CEO: 'We have zero tolerance for any amount of racism or discrimination'

SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says the company is taking new steps to address discrimination on its platform.

Speaking at the the company’s OpenAir engineering event Wednesday, Chesky said Airbnb would be “revisiting the design” of their platform to prevent discrimination.

“We have zero tolerance for any amount of racism or discrimination on our platform,” Chesky said, adding that he had spoken with users who had experienced discrimination on the service.

Airbnb has come under fire in recent weeks for how it handles discrimination on its platform. Last week, the company removed a North Carolina host for sending racist messages to a black woman who had booked booked a room. Airbnb also removed a host who denied a booking to a transgender woman, BuzzFeed reported earlier this week.

Chesky said the company plans to spend the next few months looking at the design of the platform in order to better address issues or racism, discrimination and unconscious bias.

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The issue of racism and discrimination on Airbnb came into the spotlight recently with the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack, which people used to share their own experiences of discrimination while booking accommodations. The issue has also prompted the launch of two competing services: Noirbnb and Noirebnb, both of which are meant to offer a more inclusive experience. 

In the keynote on Wednesday, Airbnb’s VP of Engineering Mike Curtis acknowledged the challenge of combatting racism and discrimination.

“We do face the challenge of racial discrimination, we do face the challenge of unconscious bias.”

“We do face the challenge of racial discrimination, we do face the challenge of unconscious bias,” Curtis said. “We are committed to battling this with every tool at our disposal and with zero tolerance.”

Curtis’ remarks were followed by a panel on diversity and inclusion, lead by Airbnb’s Director of Diversity and Belonging David King. Though King didn't elaborate on specific changes Airbnb may make, he outlined some of the steps already in the works, including unconscious bias training for hosts, improved customer service and better machine learning and other technological improvements.

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He also said the company is conducting a "top-down review of our community,” through September, to identify other aspects of the service that need to be changed.

“Airbnb leaders from every corner of the organization are a part of this conversation,” King said.

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