The workers examined the property photos on each listing and rated them on a seven point scale from This is a terrible apartment I would not stay here at any price to This is an extremely nice apartment I would stay here even if it were a lot more expensive than a nice hotel room. With these ratings the researchers controlled for apartment room quality as seen by a user examining an Airbnb listing. Other AMT workers were hired to look at the public profile pictures.
New York hosts coding them into one of the following categories white black Hispanic Asian unclear but nonwhite multiple races unclear uncertain or not applicable because the host had posted a nonhuman Chinese Overseas America Number Data picture of say a dog or the Eiffel Tower . Even controlling for factors including perceived quality and location the researchers found that listings with nonblack hosts earned roughly percent more than those with black hosts for apartments with similar ratings and property photos. Moreover black hosts receive a larger price penalty for having a poor location score relative to nonblack hosts the researchers write in the paper. These differences highlight the risk of discrimination in online marketplaces suggesting an important unintended consequence of a seemingly routine mechanism for building trust.
To Airbnb s credit the company s terms of service forbid content that promotes discrimination bigotry racism hatred harassment or harm against any individual or group. Hosts are responsible for setting their own prices for the properties they advertise on Airbnb so it s not as if the company is explicitly biased. But the pricing section of the website advises that new hosts set rates with market demand in mind. hosts they may want to charge lower than average rates to attract travelers comparing your place with existing reviews.