A woman has been banned from Airbnb for life for a crime she committed almost 10 years ago. Bethany Hallam, 32, was shocked after she received an email giving her a lifetime booking ban from the lodging app, for a nine-year-old offence.
Bethany had booked an accommodation in Miami when she received the ban, three hours after submitting her booking. The email said that Airbnb had performed an "evaluation" of Bethany's account, during which they had found a "criminal records match" resulting in a lifetime ban.
The criminal records match that the email referred to was an nine-year-old charge for drug possession. Bethany was jailed for five months for possession of suboxone, a medicine to treat dependence on opioid, and since then she has fought to give back to her community.
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"After I got out of jail I put all the energy I used to put into getting high back into my community. I got out of jail, got into recovery and then got into politics."
Minutes after the initial email from Airbnb, Bethany, who is now a councillor, received another informing her that her booking had been cancelled, and then another issuing her a full refund. She said: "I was confused, because I've used Airbnb for years as a loyal customer. I initially thought it was a scam email until I received the next one, then I was angry."
Bethany proceeded to upload screenshots of the email to Twitter and questioned Airbnb. Her tweet said: "Did I just… get a lifetime Airbnb booking ban for a 9 year old possession charge?!?." The tweet went viral with more than 28,000 likes which prompted Airbnb to contact Bethany and ask her to direct message them, reports HullLive.
The following day, Bethany received an email from Airbnb explaining that her account had been reinstated, but Bethany believes the quick turnaround was due to her status and platform. "I recognise that I'm an elected official, I have a platform through which I can garner the attention of the company. I've had so many people reach out saying that they've appealed the ban unsuccessfully."
Bethany believes that the policy will negatively affect many people who have turned their lives around. "So many people are discriminated against because of their past, reversing the ban doesn't solve the problem, I see it as a PR stunt."
Airbnb used SafeDecision API, a product offered by Inflection Risk Solutions, LLC, to perform background checks on Bethany. A representative for Airbnb said: "This has been resolved with the guest, and we have fully reinstated their account.
"For the safety of our community, Airbnb runs background checks in the US only and may take action to remove people with certain convictions, or who have multiple prior convictions. We do not run background checks in the UK.
"We understand that there may be a number of reasons why someone may have a criminal conviction on their record, so we developed an evidence-based appeals process that takes into account the type of crime and evidence of rehabilitation when considering reinstatement."
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