Technology has advanced well past the printing press, so Airbnb can actually do much better than that.

Technology problems and social problems go hand-in-hand. For an easy example, consider moderation. Online communities are improved (the /r/science subreddit), or torn apart (Twitter users) based on the strength or weaknesses of the available moderation tools.

So what, technologically, could Airbnb do to improve its user experience for marginalized?

It could use inclusiveness as a search signal. This style of tactic (forcing improvements through algorithmic penalties) works extremely well when Google uses it for search rankings. For instance, if users self-reported their race, and listing X systematically fails to rent to people of certain backgrounds, penalize it in the rankings. Make it well-known that this is a factor, but don't tell people when they are violating it.

Something less-likely to work is a report/moderate cycle, to manually review these types of cases. The problem here is that it's almost impossible to review intent; maybe I really DID think my vacation was going to be cancelled, but then a project at work got cancelled so it came back.

"The problem here is that it's almost impossible to review intent; maybe I really DID think my vacation was going to be cancelled, but then a project at work got cancelled so it came back."

Sure, people will lie about intent, not even be aware of their subconscious bias against black people, whatever...

That's why you look at the aggregate totals. It's just not going to be the case that coincidentally black travelers have their rentals rejected at a larger rate because of random external forces like renter projects being canceled.

Sounds like a startup idea. Gayville at least appears to be doing well: http://www.gay-ville.com/

Great minds think alike (or so I want to tell myself) I was going to (sadly) post the same info and suggest the same thing. It's an interesting, but sad, part of American history.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/green-book-helped-ke...

I hope not. The book was needed because these conditions were part of the landscape and couldn't really be changed, so travelers just had to deal with them. This behavior was known and expected.

Now, it's not expected and not typically tolerated. It survives by being obscure. Far better to draw attention to it and fight it than to just advise people of where to avoid.