Texas Airbnb host investigated after denying gay couple – mySA
In this photo illustration an Airbnb logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
SOPA Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
After a Texas native took to Twitter to share that a Dallas-area Airbnb host denied his booking request, the short-term stay online marketplace has launched an investigation to confirm suspected bias, according to news reports.
Curtis Kimberlin Jr. posted a screenshot of his boyfriend’s conversation with said Airbnb host on January 7, which quickly gained attention on Twitter. As is custom when submitting a booking request, Kimberlin’s partner shared details of the couple’s trip to Dallas and offered to answer any questions.
The host only had one, apparently.
“So I’ll be hosting two men sleeping together…right?” the man asked the couple.
In Kimberlin’s Twitter activity, he says the host denied the couple’s request due to his sexual orientation. MySA reached out to Kimberlin for comment, but did not get a statement from the Dallas native.
Airbnb has since suspended the host at the center of the controversy as well as launched an investigation regarding the incident, according to a statement provided to NBCDFW.com, an NBC TV news affiliate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Hosts on the platform may not decline guests based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The San Francisco-based company has a nondiscrimination policy in which violations will lead to an investigation and taking appropriate action.
While Kimberlin said Airbnb reached out to him and his partner, he told the Dallas-Fort Worth TV station that the response was “corporate” without any follow-up to their knowledge.