Vacation Rental Options for LGBTQ+ Travelers – ConsumerReports.org

Amber and Anondra “Kat” Williams, currently of Merida, Mexico—and the Black, lesbian, expat couple behind the queer-affirming travel blog Wandering Soup—know a thing or two about prejudice and bias. But that’s not what they’ve experienced on Airbnb. “When I go to reserve I say this is who we are,” says Mississippi-born Kat. “It’s me, my wife, and my son, and they say okay. We’ve literally never had anyone turn us down.”

For example, in Singapore, where same-sex relationships are not legally recognized, and Malaysia, where there are no legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, the couple’s strategy was to be transparent. “My Airbnb profile is a picture of me and my wife,” Amber says. “My bio says we are a LGBTQ+ family, and I’m clearly Black,” she says.

Transparency may be the best policy for the Williams family on their world travels, but anonymity is the antidote to discrimination at FlipKey, an Airbnb alternative owned by TripAdvisor. In addition to terms of use prohibiting discrimination by hosts, “If you go on FlipKey, you can see our profiles are largely anonymized,” says Brian Hoyt, head of communications and industry affairs at TripAdvisor. People rarely put photos or personal information on their profiles, Hoyt says. 

Like FlipKey, listings on Vrbo, another vacation-rental platform, feature a “book now” button that minimizes contact between potential renters and property owners. Vrbo also has a Trust & Safety team that monitors flagged content in their marketplace for discrimination. Anyone found violating the zero-tolerance policy regarding discrimination, harassment, or violence—both online and offline—will be removed from the platform, a Vrbo spokesperson says.  

Orbitz, Vrbo’s parent company, has a history of advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality in travel as well. Its “Travel As You Are” campaign, launched in April, along with a microsite devoted to LGBTQ+ travel, features trip planning guides, directories of LGBTQ+ owned businesses, and a first-person account of a nonbinary individual’s reflection on traveling while trans. 

Orbitz’s website also has an LGBTQ welcoming filter that users can check to view hotel rooms and rental properties that “pledge to make all guests feel safe, welcome, and respected,” the company says. Guests may be more welcomed, but their options become more limited.

A search for a vacation home in Seattle for two adults during the first week of August using only the LGBTQ welcoming search filter yielded three listings. The same search done with the “Business Friendly” experience filter indicating “properties with amenities to help you work comfortably like WiFi and breakfast,” returned 12 results. The “Family Friendly” experience for “properties that include family essentials like in-room conveniences and activities for the kids” was answered with 75 properties for rent.