Dyne Suh, an American law student in Riverside, had her Airbnb reservation in California revoked by the host, simply because she was “Asian.” Seriously? Let me repeat that because it’s quite shocking. Suh’s reservation was cancelled last-minute just because of her race.
As a result, Nick Papas, an Airbnb spokesman, told The Washington Post that the host was banned because their behavior was “abhorrent and unacceptable.” Unacceptable is one way to describe the host’s messages.
Suh had booked the mountain cabin on Airbnb a month before her expected trip, The Huffington Post reports. She had even asked the host if she could include two of her friends on her reservation. The host confirmed that it “wouldn’t be a problem” as long as they paid more. The law student told NBC Los Angeles that the trip was intended as a break from law school. After all, grad school in general can be stressful, and future lawyers need a vacation too.
According to Mashable, when Suh was on her way to the Airbnb destination, the host told her that she “was no longer welcome.” In a viral video regarding the incident, Suh said that after she received this message, she "asked the woman again, is it OK if my two friends come, like should we give you cash?” But apparently the money wasn’t the issue—not at all.
After a slew of messages between Suh and the host, Suh told the host that she was going to report her behavior to Airbnb, which was when the host revealed her racist intentions. “Go ahead. I wouldn’t rent to you if you were the last person on earth,” the host said. She added, “One word says it all. Asian.”
Unfortunately, the prejudice didn’t end there. According to The Huffington Post, the host continued to say things like, “I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners. It’s why we have trump.” Smh. Suh saved several screenshots of these messages and didn’t hesitate to send them to Airbnb.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first incident of racial discrimination from Airbnb hosts. However, Airbnb appears to be diligent about banning any racist host or guest. Regardless, it’s very disheartening (to say the least) that anyone has to be on the receiving end of a racist’s tirade.
