A gay couple from Brazil is taking legal action against a vacation rental host in Croatia who canceled their booking with a homophobic message that read, “We do not take gays.”
Fabiano Vallim and his husband planned their trip to Croatia in August 2018. But the men, who live in Sao Paolo, say after their host learned they were a couple, he sent them a message that read: “You are rejected. We do not take gays. Cancel your booking.”
Vallim responded to the message by saying he was “surprised” by the cancelation and then called out the host’s homophobia.
Unlike in the United States, where the are no federal laws to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, Croatia’s anti-discrimination law, passed in 2008, includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression on the list of protected categories against any form of discrimination.
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Prosecutors now say the vacation rental owner violated the couple’s human rights. Under the country’s anti-discrimination law, he faces up to three years in prison.
The owner has had both his Booking.com and Airbnb accounts deactivated as he awaits the court’s ruling.
Related: A couple made the ULTIMATE creepy discovery in their Airbnb rental
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davidjohng
My partner and have started to use Airbnb exclusively in our travel. If you read their legal statements on their app you will notice their stated values are inclusion and don’t tolerate discrimination in regard to sexual orientation. Violations by hosts mean they’re suspended. Regardless of what Croatia says Airbnb has their own internal policy that hosts must abide by. This article motivated me to research this but I just assumed this was the case with this growing San Francisco-based company.
RomanHans
Be aware that Airbnb is illegal in many cities but they refuse to comply with the law. You should definitely not support this illegal economy that raises rents, endangers residents, and destroys communities.
OzJosh
I’d still rather support Airbnb than corporate hotel chains that charge extortionate rates and rip you off at every turn. If we’re calling out capitalist crimes, that’s the bigger one.
johnozed
Seems that Airbnb is working to get rid of rent control laws in various cities they operate in.
brahbate
AirBnB is largely unregulated. Consider using MisterBnB exclusively. Also, there is a service called AirBnBate, available through the website Bateworld. But yeah … AirBnB can really screw you over, as that Brazilian couple found out.
OzJosh
MisterBnB is no more regulated than AirBnB. And it wasn’t AirBnB that screwed the Brazilian couple; it was the Croatian landlord. If the Brazilian guy checks AirBnB conditions he’ll find that he’s covered and that the Croatian will be suspended.
Tim
I have used Air BnB for years, domestic (USA) and internationally, and never had an issue. Ever.
nystrele
These stories are absolute HYPERBOLE… one in a million times does such a thing happen. I am an Airbnb Superhost in VA (and gay) and I can tell you for sure 100% that airbnb has so many filters in place to block knowledge of a potential guest — to avoid such discrimination — that it’s almost impossible to know ANYTHING about them until they book.
It’s because of silly stories like this that airbnb has had to protect its reputation and make things anything but transparent for hosts… who would LIKE to know the basics about their guests…
I can assure you, if I, as a host, were to treat ANY guest like this I’d be kicked off the site in a second. I have nothing but the utmost of respect for the platform’s fair and equal treatment of ALL guests.
Josh447
As a host on Airbnb, they do have guest profiles that hosts can look at before accepting a booking, as does Homeaway/VRBO. It’s part of being secure with who you accept into your rental.
Obviously this couple put they were gay in their profile and then got rejected. Unfortunate for sure.
batesmotel
If the idiot AirBNB host was that strict about it, then he should’ve put in the listing, “ABSOLUTELY NO GAYS!”
Atl2Sea
My 2 cents having worked for an Airbnb chain with over 10 USA properties: I would never book an overseas Airbnb without a solid backup reservation at a reliable hotel. Airbnb’s reservation platform / is grossly insufficient to secure a reliable domestic reservation; attempting an international reservation with a language barrier is pure folly. When Airbnb works it’s okay. But when Airbnb doesn’t work it is an unmitigated DISASTER! After three years serving as hosts and guests ourselves, we thought we’d seen every which way an Airbnb reservation could implode, but guests Airbnb surprised us weekly with new, inexplicable methods to leave our guests stranded. Airbnb hosts are fined $100 for any reservation cancellation they initiate, so hosts do so at their peril and only in extreme situations. If Airbnb loses or cancels reservation, neither they nor the host has any obligation to find the affected guest an alternate place to stay. Try finding last minute lodging in high summer at rate anywhere near what Airbnb was charging: its unobtainable. This scenario is awfully one-sided but don’t you dare call Airbnb’s customer no-service line! The useless idiots answer their phone have no ability to help a hapless guest and will flag your account as being “high maintenance” if you request logical understanding of what went wrong. We lost countless repeat guests because Airbnb terminated their login access because they complained. And if you think Airbnb’s website is too slow and opt for their phone app, you’ll be paying more for your stay as our guests proved to us again and again with real time test comparisons. “Convenience” has its price.
JJinAus
Overseas? Really? The USA is the biggest repository of bigotry in the first world. Have you been “overseas”?
dhmonarch89
um- what Federal law protects us from discrimination in the US??? In 29 states you can still be fired and denied housing.
Aires the Ram
There is no federal law for that. It’s up to the individual States. But that’s why this is before the Supreme Court now, as marriage equality was, because many states outlawed equal marriage. Remember, IF the Supreme Court rules against this case, it in effect changes NOTHING. Everything will stay as it is, as you sit and read this. I think they’ll rule in our favor, as they did in the equal marriage case, but we will have to wait and see. I’m no lawyer, but I believe the equal marriage decision set a precedent for this current case. We will see. But NOBODY is attempting to “make discrimination against homosexuals Legal”, because in many states it is, by default, now, because they have laws no their books saying that they cannot do that in this or that state.
Heywood Jablowme
@Aires: Yep, and you can bet that if the House Democrats pass a federal bill on that and send it to the Republican Senate, it’ll get killed. Or more likely not even considered.
Look up the history of ENDA, the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Republicans are never on “our” side.
Atl2Sea
My 2 cents having worked for an Airbnb chain with over 10 US properties: I would never book an overseas Airbnb without a solid backup reservation at a reliable hotel. Airbnb’s reservation platform are grossly unstable to secure a reliable domestic reservation. Booking an international property with a language barrier is just inviting disaster. When Airbnb works it’s okay. But when Airbnb fails it is an unmitigated DISASTER! After two years we thought we’d seen every way an Airbnb reservation could implode, but Airbnb surprised us weekly with new, inexplicable methods to leave our guests stranded. Keep in mind that all Airbnb hosts are fined a $100 for any reservation cancellation they initiate, so hosts do so at their peril and only in extreme situations. But If Airbnb loses or cancels a reservation, neither they nor the host has any obligation to find the affected guest an alternate place to stay. ry finding last minute accommodations in high summer at rates anywhere near what Airbnb charges: its unobtainable. the scenario is awfully one-sided but don’t you dare phone Airbnb’s customer no-service line! Those useless idiots answering the phone have no ability to help a hapless guest and will flag your account as being high maintenance if you request a logical understanding of what went wrong. We lost countless repeat guests who never came back because Airbnb terminated their login access because they complained. And if you think Airbnb’s website is too slow and opt for the phone app, you’ll be paying way more for your stay as our guests proved to us time and time again with real time test comparisons. “Convenience” has its price.
4runnergui
If you ever visit the USA, I would THRILLED to have a great couple rent my beach condo! Gay, Straight or anything in between . . . good people are good people!! I’m sorry you had to endure this kind of ignorance in 2019!
Aires the Ram
I always thought AirBnb was a pretty cool thing, along with the offshoots like MisterBnb and such, but reading all of this sure sours my opinion. I’ll be sticking IHG & Hilton, thank you.
OzJosh
If you’re travelling in certain parts of the world you’d be as likely to get a homophobic reaction at a hotel as at an AirBnb. Croatia, for example, is a predominantly Roman Catholic country, with all the prejudices and bigotry that comes along with that.
Josh447
Man oh man Croatia is gorgeous!
Brian
You get what you pay for. I’m sure there are plenty of professionals with listings, but there are also a bunch of amateurs who have no idea what the laws are pertaining to rentals, or just don’t care because they think it’s their house so they can do whatever they want. You roll the dice, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.