A Black woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Airbnb and an Atlanta-area host, alleging she was denied a rental booking because of her race. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Georgia last week, as reported by The Independent on Wednesday.
Plaintiff Sharona Stewart alleges that host George Yu Shihfang and unnamed property managers discriminated against her during the booking process. The complaint further claims that Airbnb failed to act after she reported the incident.
According to the lawsuit, Stewart exchanged “cordial” messages with Shihfang after requesting to rent a six-bedroom property. After the host allegedly asked “racially based questions” and determined Stewart was a Black woman, he stopped responding to her inquiries. The reservation request was ultimately rejected.
Stewart later reviewed the property listing and found language describing the area as a “peaceful white neighborhood” in the neighborhood highlights section. She reported the wording and the rejected booking to Airbnb, but the company reportedly closed her complaint and allowed the advertisement to remain on the platform.
“We have to call it out when we see it,” Stewart’s attorney, Bataski Bailey, told The Independent. Bailey stated the case was intended to challenge racial discrimination on the platform.
The complaint argues that Airbnb failed to stop discriminatory conduct on its platform and allowed minority applicants to face unequal treatment. Questions about racial discrimination on Airbnb have surfaced repeatedly over the past decade.
A 2015 Harvard Business School study found that guests with African-American-sounding names were nearly 10 percent more likely to have booking requests rejected than otherwise identical guests. Those findings contributed to calls for stronger safeguards against discrimination.
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