You really have to wonder about some Airbnb hosts. Don’t get me wrong – many of them, are wonderful. But others?
- Not once, but at least twice, Airbnb hosts have specified that their guests must be unvaccinated against COVID
- Some hide cameras and don’t tell anyone (note: cameras in Airbnbs are OK, except in bedrooms and bathrooms, but the host have to be up front about them)
- And we don’t know if this host was being passive aggressive or was just a clean freak
So SHOULD we be surprised that an Airbnb host had the audacity to post a maximum weight requirement for their guests? Probably not.
Hosts Zsu and Marcus, are the owners of Bobbit’s Lair, a cottage in Sandwich, Kent, England. They rented it on Airbnb for £199 (about $265) per night and it had a 4-star rating. It was listed as a two-bedroom medieval cottage with old touches like 15th-century beams, as well as a modern kitchen and outdoor hot tub.
Their ad for their property specified some rules that could be taken as a little odd but generally acceptable, especially considering their place was from the 15th century, had wood beams and was in a residential area:
- No naked flames or candles to be lit inside the cottage
- No loud music or talking outside after 10pm
- No smoking inside the cottage
- No moving furniture or rearranging the kitchen
- No more than 4 persons in the hot tub at any one time
- No non-guests allowed
- No red wine in carpeted or bedroom areas
- No drinking the tap water; use the filter machine for all drinks
But they had one more rule that was just…I have no words
- No persons with eating disorders may book. We have a maximum weight of 100kg (Note: about 220 pounds) per person
Really? REALLY?
That last rule, needless to say, got some major complaints. So they removed the listing and rewrote it. The removed the “eating disorders” part but still had maximum weight requirement, stating their cottage had, “very old oak beams.”
Fat Activist Lindsay McGlone took to Instagram, who shared the ad with her nearly 20k followers.
“When I saw the listing I couldn’t believe what I was reading, I couldn’t comprehend that somebody would write that,” Insider said McGlone, 22, told Kennedy News.
“I shared the listing because the people who wrote it need to be held accountable because it’s extremely damaging and I wanted it removed.
“Specifying a certain weight is fat-phobic as it’s discriminating against people who have a larger body.
“They’re saying they don’t want fat people in their vicinity and they don’t want to take fat people’s money.”
And honestly y’all, if someone is particularly tall, 220 isn’t even overweight.
Meanwhile, Zsu and Marcus kept to their guns and said that larger guests were not welcome:
We had someone ask about the bath size then how wide was he [sic] doors were,” the hosts told Kennedy news.
“We said ‘not suitable for disabled guests.’
“Then the penny dropped once they booked we had to cancel as the cottage could of [sic] got seriously damaged during ‘their’ stay.
“Understand the pictures are wide angle, bigger than average people are NOT ALLOWED TO STAY!”
Airbnb has had a nondiscrimination policy on the books since 2016.
From an Airbnb spokesperson: “Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where everyone can belong anywhere.
“Discrimination and bias have no place in our community, and we suspended the listing while we addressed the matter raised.
“We enforce a strict non-discrimination policy and under our Open Doors initiative, if a guest feels they have been discriminated against, we will provide personalized support to ensure they find a place to stay.”
The listing for Bobbit’s Lair has been removed from Airbnb.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 23,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
4 comments
Well I’m around 80 kg and in very good shape with very little fat. My lovely Korean wife is not but 45 kg. That cutie is in terrific shape. 🙂
Together we’re 125 kg. I guess we can’t get close to each other if we go there.
I don’t get it. I’m 6’4″ and over 220lb. Why would I be offended that the owners of this place don’t think I’ll fit in their place? That seems like helpful info.
The owners should be free to specify any requirements they choose. If it costs them business, that’s their problem.
Not on Airbnb. As the article said, they have a discrimination and bias policy. Not allowing people to rent because of weight (or skin color, sexual identity, religion, etc.), are all forms of discrimination.