It didn’t take long for #AirbnbWhileBlack to evolve from a hashtag to a movement as more and more folks shared their stories of discrimination within the sharing economy.<\/p>\n
A number of new start-ups hope to address the implicit bias problem explicitly on new platforms.<\/p>\n
“Earlier this year, a Harvard Business School study<\/a> found that Airbnb guests with names of African American origin were 16 percent less likely to receive a response from hosts, raising concerns as to whether implicit bias is baked into the platform itself.<\/p>\n A new class of sharing economy platforms, created by and for POC and LGBTQ travelers, is betting that’s the case. The new sites aim to combat the problem by catering to the needs of minority customers in a way that sharing economy giants can’t. By offering opportunities for users to connect with travelers like them beyond the transactional host-guest relationship, they’re creating communities of users who are sensitive to the needs of those unserved by established players like Airbnb.”<\/p>\n