An Airbnb host has been banned for posting a racist advert that discriminated against Asians.
According to Mirror Online, an Airbnb host had written in his advert, “please don’t book if you are Asian”.
Stephen, who also works as an Edinburgh taxi driver, had been advertising a room for £25 per night.
An IT worker who was looking to find a place to stay in Edinburgh found the advert and described it as the “worst type of violation”.
When the Mirror Online contacted Stephen about the advert, he replied, “yes aware of a complaint, nothing really to discuss, apart from having bad experiences in the past. No further comments to make!”
He also appeared to be hostile online to customers through the site. In one response to a noise complaint, Stephen wrote, “you have a bloody cheek to tell me how to behave in my own home.”
“You are an absolute idiot, if you can’t speak English don’t stay with someone who doesn’t speak your native tongue, communication was like getting blood from a stone, quite frankly you were a nuisance from the moment you stepped foot in the flat walking around with a pen and paper making notes on my place! I’m glad you left 2 months early!!!!” He added.
One unhappy customer wrote, “I booked place at this apartment for 3 months. He said that he is cancelling my reservation after 15 days although he had one month money. He threatened to throw my belongings out of the house. He has some serious issues.”
In response, Stephen replied, “I found you to be very awkward and I could hear you standing outside my bedroom door in the night which made my girlfriend very uncomfortable and she didn’t want to be in the house alone with you.”
Airbnb banned Stephen after the company was approached for a comment regarding the host’s advert. “We have zero tolerance for discrimination and have permanently removed this host from Airbnb,” said a spokeswoman from the company.
