Fighting discrimination and making travel more open to all

Instant Book—a feature that allows guests to book a listing without requiring hosts to approve a reservation request—is an important tool that can help reduce potential discrimination in the booking process by supporting more objective bookings. Recent changes that allow for a more holistic definition of a positive track record on Airbnb have helped increase the number of guests successfully booking reservations via Instant Book.

New steps that help hosts respond to booking requests in a timely manner also increased the booking success rate. These changes include making pending reservation requests more prominent for hosts. This decreased the number of reservation requests that previously went unanswered, effectively increasing the number of guests who successfully book a place to stay.

Guests with reviews have a higher Booking Success Rate. We’ve now made it easier for guests to add co-travelers with Airbnb accounts to their reservation, which enables these co-travelers to receive a review even if they did not book the stay.

We introduced a new feature allowing hosts and guests to display their preferred names on their profiles, after confirming their legal name. We’re also improving the process for hosts or guests who report being identified by the incorrect pronouns in a review. If a host or guest expresses this concern, the pronoun is replaced with the user’s preferred name.

We’ve refined the process by which hosts decline a reservation request to help inform them about acceptable and unacceptable reasons for rejecting a booking request. We’ve also updated our Non-Discrimination Policy to make it more effective and incorporated new protections against caste discrimination. Lastly, we are implementing a series of changes to help enhance fairness when a host cancels an existing reservation.

We are expanding the Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy, which introduces people from diverse and historically under-represented communities to hosting on our platform in partnership with organisations, including Hispanic Wealth Project, Brotherhood Crusade and United Spinal Association. We’re also continuing to participate in Operation HOPE’s 1 Million Black Businesses (1MBB) initiative, which provides support and coaching for Black entrepreneurs to start, grow, or scale their businesses.

Our accessibility feature search filters make it easier for guests to find and book stays that meet their needs. Through Accessibility Review, we review every accessibility feature submitted by hosts for accuracy.