When Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said this weekend that the company would offer free housing to refuges and anyone impacted by President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries, he joined tech leaders including Google’s Sergey Brin, Uber’s Travis Kalanick, CEO Reed Hastings and others in publicly criticizing Trump’s executive order.
But unlike those other companies, the order and what it stands for goes directly against Airbnb’s core mission and the product it sells. The online lodging platform’s stated purpose, after all, is belonging: The message it pushes (some might say relentlessly) is that it brings people together and that “anyone can belong anywhere.” Its executives have referred to its platform as the “UN at the kitchen table.”
"Not allowing countries or refugees into America is not right, and we must stand with those who are affected," Chesky tweeted Saturday night, before announcing that the company would provide free housing to refugees and anyone not allowed in the U.S. by the order. "Stay tuned for more, contact me if urgent need for housing," he wrote.
Chesky also sent an all-hands email to employees Saturday night.
"This is a policy that I profoundly disagree with and it is a direct obstacle to our mission at Airbnb," he wrote in the email.
“We believe that you should be able to travel to and live in any community around the world,” he added. “If we want this to be more than just something we put on a plaque, we have to take action. So here is some of the action we are taking."
In addition to the offer for free housing, Chesky said the company had reached out to employees who were impacted and those who work in the U.S. on visas or green cards to say they had the "unwavering support of everyone at this company." He urged any other employees who thought the order could impact them to contact the company’s “Employee Experience” team. “This is obviously a dynamic situation,” he said.
The last time Airbnb encountered a situation that went so directly against its mission statement was when it dealt with the prevalence of discriminatory behavior on its own platform, a crisis that rose to the fore last spring and summer. After a review, the company responded with several measures, including requiring all members to sign a non-discrimination policy, providing alternate housing for anyone denied on a discriminatory basis, launching anti-bias training, and upping the number of listings available for booking without prior approval -- moves Chesky has described as going "uncomfortably big."