Airbnb Bans Listing of Properties That Were Formally Slave Plantations

Airbnb has outlawed the listing of rental properties on its site where slaves have lived or worked, according to an update to their anti-discrimination policy.

The moves come after a TikTok video from July calling out the company for listing an “1830s slave cabin” went viral.

The online short-term rental marketplace immediately removed the listing, then sought out others like it, enlisting the help of historical experts.

Airbnb‘s “Work to fight Discrimination and Build Inclusion” now includes a section called “Prohibiting the Glorification and Marketing of Slavery,” which states that in July 2022, the company “took a series of steps to address the listing of properties in the US that were known to include former slave houses,” as they “have no place on Airbnb.”

The three main policies, which only apply to the United States, prohibit “prohibiting the listing of any home or other structure on a former plantation where enslaved people lived or worked if structures that existed during the time of slavery are still present on the property,” bar “any structure specifically designed only to house enslaved people and that did house enslaved people,” and prohibit “the promotion of slavery-related features as a selling point of a stay.”

Exceptions will be made for certain Experiences that “provide important educational context” led by “reputable partners and experts.”

“Currently we have removed listings and experiences associated with roughly 30 properties that are violating our policies,” an Airbnb spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

Entertainment lawyer Wynton Yates outlines the listing for the “Panther Burn Cabin,” a bed and breakfast situated on the “Panther Burn Plantation,” stating that “this is not ok.”

“How is this ok in somebody’s mind to rent this out, a place where human beings were kept as slaves, to rent this out as a bed and breakfast?” Yates asks in his TikTok.

Guests are able to “stay in the sharecropper cabin,” described as “elegant,” and “eat in the main house,” while also experiencing “Southern hospitality,” according to a variety of reviews he lays out.
 

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