Airbnb hosts more likely to reject guests with disabilities, study finds

Guests with blindness, cerebral palsy, dwarfism and spinal injuries were refused at higher rates, sometimes when homes were advertised as wheelchair accessible

Airbnb hosts routinely reject guests with disabilities, sometimes when they have even advertised their homes as wheelchair accessible, according to a new study that adds to growing concerns about discrimination in the sharing economy.

A Rutgers University study of nearly 4,000 requests for lodging on the home-sharing platform found that guests with blindness, cerebral palsy, dwarfism and spinal cord injury were refused at rates higher than people without disabilities. In some instances, hosts who claimed that their homes were accessible were also more likely to approve guests without disabilities, according to the research published Friday.