Airbnb blocks Ukrainians over 'invalid' state-issued ID, citing sanctions

In September 2023, Airbnb signed a memorandum with the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine to promote the country as a tourist destination post-war. However, while initially assisting Ukrainians with housing in Europe after the Russian invasion, Airbnb is now blocking Ukrainians from renting even within Ukraine. Moreover, Ukrainians report being contacted by Russian-speaking customer support operators.

Liga.Tech has looked into what is going on with Airbnb's treatment of Ukrainian users.

Blocking after adding a passport

Before the full-scale invasion, it was not mandatory to add a photo of a document to your Airbnb profile, but now you cannot rent a home without an uploaded passport or driver's license.

After authorization, the site asks you to add a document, then take a selfie, and then you receive a message about being blocked for document verification. There is an option to file a complaint, but it is apparently sent to the Russian office, as the response comes in Russian. Although in the spring of 2022, Airbnb stopped operations in Russia and Belarus.

The author of this article encountered this problem when he uploaded a photo of his Ukrainian passport, having a Kyiv registration. It was impossible to reply to the support service because sending messages was blocked. In addition, it is also impossible to send a message to the mailbox for press inquiries listed on the Airbnb website.

Olha, a Kyiv resident who contacted Liga.Tech, also lost access to her own Airbnb profile. After uploading a passport photo, she received a notification that this type of document was not supported. It is impossible to file a complaint.

Artem, a soldier who was planning to rent a home in Dnipro during his leave, told Liga.Tech that he tried twice to restore access to his account and create a new one, but Airbnb blocked him after uploading a Ukrainian document.

Fictional sanctions

Mentions of similar problems can be found on social media. In September 2022, Ukrainian Yulia Myronenko shared her negative experience with Airbnb. The customer service explained to her that the system does not support users with Ukrainian documents: "It doesn't matter how many months you've been out of Ukraine. This is related to your document, which has all the information about you."

In the comments to Yulia's post, you can find screenshots of messages from the Russian-language support service, where the user is offered to pay for the rent with a non-Ukrainian card because of sanctions. Although no sanctions have been imposed on Ukraine.

At the same time, there are many active Airbnb ads in Ukraine with reviews in recent months. So, Airbnb is not blocking all Ukrainian users. However, in the community center on the service's website, you can find messages from Ukrainians whose rental ads have been blocked.

Liga.Tech asked Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky to explain the policy of blocking Ukrainians. At the time of publication, the editorial board had not received a response.