A HOLIDAYMAKER was shocked to receive a lifetime ban from Airbnb because they did a background check and found she had a previous criminal conviction.
Bethany Hallam received an email from the holiday rental company on earlier this month shortly after booking an apartment in Miami Beach, Florida for five nights next month costing £1,030.
The email read: “We’ve recently completed an evaluation of your Airbnb account, which included a consumer report generated using the Inflection SafeDecision API product offered by Infection Risk Solutions, LLC.
“The consumer report contained the following information: Criminal Records Match.
“Due to this finding, we regret to inform you that you will not be able to host or book reservations on Airbnb.
“If you have any upcoming reservations, they’ll be cancelled for a full refund and all other parties will be notified of the cancellation.”
The 32-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, claims she has been using Airbnb for years and never had a problem.
She says the criminal conviction match is due to being found in possession of opiates nine years ago.
The reformed drug user feels she is now being punished for her past misdemeanors after getting clean six years ago.
Speaking today, Bethan said: “At first I was confused, then surprised and mostly just angry. I knew if it happened to me, there must be lots of other people out there who have experienced this so I started researching and found tons of stories of people with similar experiences with Airbnb and Inflection Risk Solutions.
“This whole thing runs against one of the supposed promises of this country: that we believe in second chances and redemption.
“People with criminal records should be a protected class when it comes to this sort of discrimination.
“This type of discrimination disproportionately affects poor people and people of colour, and it’s not an accident.
“Landlords, bosses, and many others often use a criminal record as a pretext to ‘legalize’ their discriminatory practices of denying tenants or rejecting applicants. Now we’re seeing that it goes even further than that.
“At the time, my overdose epidemic was not as well-known as it is today. I was over-prescribed Vicodin, and as a result, became addicted to prescription opioids.”
Bethany subsequently spent time in county jail and temporarily lost her driver’s license following her past conviction.
She had planned to stay at the Airbnb with her boyfriend and best friend to watch an American Football game between the Miami Dolphins and her team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Bethany, an Allegheny County councilperson and student at Duquesne University School of Law,
Airbnb’s website states: “Keeping our Airbnb family safe is one of our top priorities.
“If we have at least an accurate first name, last name, and date of birth for a Host or guest, we’ll perform a background check at the following times (only in the USA).
“Guests: 10 days before the check-in date of their reservation (or later in the case of bookings within 10 days of check-in)
“Hosts: When the Host logs in after creating a listing, or when a stay or experience is booked—whichever comes first.”
The checks are likely to affect holidaymakers from the UK and beyond who are planning to visit the US.
Airbnb adds: “For those who live in the US: We check certain databases of public state and county criminal records as well as state and national sex offender registries.
“For those who live outside the US: We may, to the extent permitted by applicable laws and to the extent available, obtain the local version of background or registered sex offender checks.”
Bethan was refunded for the booking shortly after it was cancelled.
