Not renting to renters based on mannerisms - discrimination or not?

[wmw999 2,121]

Tough question, frankly. If they could identify which Chinese tour operators are the worst and exclude them by name then I'd say it was definitely ok.
Pictographs over the toilet sound like a good idea...

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[billvon 2,400]

It's definitely discrimination - but discrimination isn't always bad. Most landlords (wisely) discriminate against people with a history of nonpayment of debts, for example.

Discrimination based _purely_ on race (or sex, or orientation, or religion) is a problem IMO. If your instructions are to not rent to any Asians - problem. If your instructions are not to rent to specific tour groups with a bad history - no problem. "Asian tour groups" is a pretty gray area. Personally I'd try to figure out a better way of figuring out their propensity for breaking toilet seats than looking at their race.

[TriGirl 268]

Instead of saying particular groups, whose members have had higher incidents of behavior that hurts the property, post instructions that certain behavior is not allowed in the property:

-- I like the toilet instruction idea
-- smoking of any kind is not allowed inside the home (also include a butt disposal of some kind for safe collection outside, and to encourage the outside smoking in a certain designated area)
-- please no cooking of certain foods (at all)

I would also recommend the tour agency that booked the property be fined at the time of an infraction every time. They'll start informing their patrons of the rules up front, and then later pass those fines to the offending patrons.

It's a matter of personal actions, not the fact that those committing these actions have in the past usually come from a particular source. You can't penalize every person in a subset for actions they have not committed, or for behavior of others that they cannot control. That's unfair.

Next thing you know you'll have a particular group of European tourists doing at least one of those offensive things (smoking all over the house -- sometimes cigars), plus perhaps other habits of which you're not aware. Instead of selectively excluding particular groups, just make the list of prohibited activities longer as necessary.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[nolhtairt 0]

I don't know how AirBNB does business but if I were going to rent my property out via AirBNB, I'd require a security deposit that gets refunded if no damage or rule breaking is evident. Make it high enough they'll want it back. And high enough to cover damages caused (hopefully not too bad)

That should keep most people renting in line.