Get All Access for $5/mo

Airbnb Announces Ban on Renting Out Houses Where Enslaved People Lived The change follows criticism over a listing for a "slave cabin" that went viral last summer.

By Steve Huff

SOPA Images | Getty Images

In the summer of 2022, a TikTok video of an Airbnb promoted as an "1830s slave cabin" went viral for all the wrong reasons. Now Airbnb says it's done with promoting or allowing rentals in homes where enslaved people lived.

In a report published this week titled "A Six-Year Update on Airbnb's Work to Fight Discrimination and Build Inclusion," Airbnb announced its "Prohibiting the Glorification and Marketing of Slavery" policy.

"In July 2022," the report reads, "we took a series of steps to address the listing of properties in the US that were known to include former slave houses. Such properties have no place on Airbnb." The company then "immediately removed listings that included former slave houses," and "started working with experts including historic preservation architect Jobie Hill on policies to address other US-based properties and Experiences associated with slavery."

"These policies," the report continues,

...which apply to properties in the US, include: 1) prohibiting the listing of any home or other structure on a former plantation where enslaved people lived or worked, if structures that existed during the time of slavery are still present on the property; 2) barring any structure specifically designed only to house enslaved people and that did house enslaved people ("slave houses"); and 3) prohibiting the promotion of slavery-related features as a selling point of a stay. We are in the process of implementing these new policies and assessing listings that may be impacted...

Airbnb's Ben Breit told BuzzFeed that the company has already "removed listings and experiences associated with roughly 30 properties that are violating our policies."

The "1830s Slave Cabin" that inspired the move went viral in July. Named the Panther Burn Cottage, it is located in Greenville, Mississippi, on the grounds of the Belmont Plantation. TikToker Wynton Yates, an attorney, called attention to the cabin in a video, saying, "How is this OK in somebody's mind, to rent this out — a place where human beings were kept as slaves — rent this out as a bed and breakfast?"

Airbnb and the cabin's owner apologized at the time, with the company stating that "Properties that formerly housed the enslaved have no place on Airbnb."

Steve Huff

Entrepreneur Staff

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

Meta Makes $1 Million Dollar Donation to Donald Trump's Inaugural Fund

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reportedly gave Trump a pair of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Side Hustle

'Hustling Every Day': These Friends Started a Side Hustle With $2,500 Each — It 'Snowballed' to Over $500,000 and Became a Multimillion-Dollar Brand

Paris Emily Nicholson and Saskia Teje Jenkins had a 2020 brainstorm session that led to a lucrative business.

Leadership

Should I Stay or Should I Go? 8 Key Points to Navigate the Founder's Dilemma

Here are eight key signs that help founders determine whether to persevere or let go.

Marketing

Your Most Powerful Marketing Weapon Is Hiding in the Finance Department — Here's Why

Transform your marketing leadership by turning finance from a barrier into a strategic ally. Learn how aligning with your finance team can drive unprecedented growth and innovation.

Starting a Business

They Bought an Ice Cream Truck Off eBay for $5,000. Now Their Company Has 70 Shops and Sells Treats in Over 12,000 Stores.

For the episode of "The Founder CEO," the co-founder and CEO of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream explains how one ice cream truck grew into a successful nationwide brand.