Airbnb

Airbnb adheres to internationally recognised design principles for people with disabilities and makes its services more accessible by requiring hosts to provide photos of accessibility features in their listings. It has features on its platform to accommodate users with disabilities, such as an enhanced filter option for accessibility. It also solicits feedback from the disability community and advocacy groups.

The Airbnb Academy and the Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy offer a digital skills development programme for women and youth in townships and rural communities. The academies focus on training women and people living in rural areas in Argentina, Guyana, Kenya and South Africa. The company also discloses impact and participation metrics for the programme.

Airbnb has a Chief Privacy Officer, Chief Security Officer and Director of Information Security, who are all responsible for information and data security. They report to the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee. The company demonstrates high-level commitment to data privacy and has published a transparency report since 2016 disclosing government requests for user information. Additionally, the company discloses that it has a mechanism for reporting online harms to children.

Airbnb discloses its open-source projects and shares its source code on its website and GitHub. Additionally, the company supports start-ups through the Airbnb Startup Entrepreneur Programme and discloses its commitment to operate as a net zero company by 2030.

No evidence was found of Airbnb’s contribution to making digital technologies available and affordable for underserved populations. The company has an opportunity to increase its initiatives in this area and further support a dedicated initiative enhancing digital opportunities for women and girls. Additionally, it should report how it distributes the economic value it generates among its stakeholders, as well as its income taxes paid and employment for its countries of operation.

The company has an opportunity to support additional digital skills initiatives.

Little evidence was found of how Airbnb monitors, remedies, and reports cybersecurity incidents. The company has an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to cybersecurity by increasing its transparency in this area. The company can also develop a group privacy policy and, in addition to having a means to report online harms to children, make a high-level commitment towards child online safety.

Although Airbnb has reported the number of women employed in tech roles at the company for previous years, it has not yet provided updated figures for the last two years. Moreover, little evidence was found on the company’s support for sustainable development or for activities relating to inclusive and ethical innovation. Airbnb has an opportunity to strengthen its performance by reporting its initiatives in these areas.

Airbnb has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. However, the company does not have a public commitment on respecting human rights or the ILO core labour rights. Further, no evidence was found that Airbnb expects its business relationships to commit to respecting the ILO core labour rights. Airbnb also does not disclose a process to identify, assess and act on salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its business relationships. Moreover, the company does not have a process to engage with stakeholders whose human rights could be impacted by its operations.

Airbnb publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety and has a time-bound target on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The company can improve its disclosures on quantitative health and safety information and on the expectation, it places on its business relationships with regard to respecting the health and safety of workers. While Airbnb discloses a gender breakdown per employee category, the company has an opportunity to improve its disclosure by reporting on other indicators of workforce diversity.

Airbnb does not disclose any relevant information in relation to tax, such as a global tax strategy or its income tax payments in individual tax jurisdictions. The company has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints. It also has a global anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy. However, the policy is not available in the public domain. The company does not disclose how it takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption and does not describe how it includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts. Furthermore, Airbnb does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Specifically, the company has no public statement indicating that it does not make political contributions, and it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures.