Why? Because the "host" is inviting people to stay in their home. I'd be totally justified in deciding that a user looks difficult to deal with (perhaps they look young and it's near a party time, or perhaps their other reviews indicate they're "difficult").

AirBNB isn't going to make everything right between two unknown parties. Minor hassles can add up into a major headache. Plus there's a lot of social pressure on reviews (both ways), so even that seems like limited recourse.

Edit: To clarify, I'm responding to why they should be able to refuse any guest.

Again, most hosts have published rules. If the guest agrees to those rules, is in good standing, and the place is available then how is there a legitimate reason for denying the reservation? "Because it's my house" is not a real reason. If you are that protective then why are you on Airbnb? If you are scared of parties in Miami during <insert holiday/allstar weekend> then why is your unit available at ALL on those dates?

Not applying to illegal hotel chains like the one you mentioned: AirBnB would have even more issues on hand if they mandated "you must accept all requests". That's probably a non starter for legitimate AirBnB hosts (not the people running a business).

Puh-lease. His multiple homes in one part of Miami? This guy runs a hotel. It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race in restaurants, hotels, and many other places.

Yes but I'm referring to general hosts. I don't think AirBnB recognises illegal hotel chains, officially.

> I don't think AirBnB recognises illegal hotel chains, officially.

Exactly. To do so would open them up to all sorts of complaints, civil rights and otherwise. To not do so would cost them millions of dollars in revenue. So, they choose to do nothing and pretend that the problem does not exist. I don't think it's fair to pretend that they are either blameless or powerless in this situation.

>"There should be some kind of agreement where hosts can not book a given slot if they deny a user in good standing that reservation."

Short of having someone "Verifying" the reason, this would have the unintended consequence of disallowing the host from using any reason, good or otherwise, to decline guests.