by Bashar Wali, Principal / President & Chief Creative Officer, Provenance Hotels
Good Luck, Mr. Holder. Seriously!
Let me be clear: I’m not anti-Airbnb. I’m pro-Guest.
To me, the sharing economy reflects a heartening and positive shift in collective values (from “mine” to “ours,” hence the word “sharing”) and an impressively agile and rapid pivot toward resourcefulness and efficiency (hence the word “economy”). Am I the only one who thinks humanity should be giving itself a high five right now? The sharing economy is really us. At our caring, clever best.
The recent wave of discrimination lawsuits and horror stories about Airbnb may have actually uncovered the fundamental flaw inherent in the sharing economy. While humans have the capacity for caring and cleverness, there’s also the potential for racial and sexual biases, discrimination, and worse. That’s why I truly hope that Airbnb’s recent announcement to hire Eric Holder, legal advisor and former Attorney General, proves to be much more than a public relations stratagem. Mr. Holder and the Airbnb team face a bit of a management challenge:
How does a web-based home-sharing platform effectively screen, train and then somehow attempt to oversee (read “manage”) a rapidly growing number of hosts (currently 640,000), when shareholder value relies almost solely on more and more and more transactions?
If the sheer number of potential problems (with 60,000,000 users worldwide) isn’t daunting enough, turns out the Civil Rights Act itself provides a loophole that allows racial and sexual discrimination for “rentals which have five rooms or less.” Perhaps Mr. Holder, with his experience in the halls of power, will be able to make some strides toward closing that loophole. That would be a win for the guest. Another high five moment.
Airbnb is an uncommonly innovative and resourceful company, and with a valuation somewhere north of $25 billion, they certainly have the windfall surplus to throw a lot of money at this problem. They already have, and Mr. Holder is just the latest in an impressive roster of name brand hires that no doubt quell shareholder nerves whenever the crowd starts to turn a bit.
But again, the reality: 60,000,000 users. 640,000 hosts. 63% of them white and only 8% black, according to a recent Harvard study. 640,000 un-interviewed, untrained, unaccountable humans.
Eric Holder is going to need all the luck he can get.
