Airbnb For "Transkindness"

Clip recap:

Airbnb believes that every person in the world should feel like they can belong anywhere. That feeling is possible because of the kindness in our community--hosts who were once strangers, guests who became friends, the goodness we see in man, woman, and transkind. Go see. Stay in their homes, hear their stories, understand their lives. Then share your experiences with us. Let’s celebrate moments of human kindness.

(Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

Airbnb Expands To Cuba

Via Digital Trends:

Airbnb extends its tendrils to just about every country within reach, so it’s no surprise that Cuba finally made the list. Earlier this month, the home-rental liaison took advantage of loosened U.S. trade restrictions to begin offering its services in the Communist island nation. The listings number in the hundreds right now, but Airbnb has been sending representatives to Cuba during the past few months to encourage more real estate owners to lease their properties. Most are concentrated in Havana, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and other trendy destinations to cash in on Cuba’s tourism industry, which accounted for 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013. More than 2 million foreign travelers visit Cuba each year, and Airbnb expects that number to grow – the company saw a 70-percent spike in searches from U.S. users for listings in Cuba.

Finding lodging with Airbnb will remain difficult as very few Cubans have home web access and most must use expensive government-run internet cafes.

RELATED: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Cuba today for the first-ever trade mission by a sitting governor since the thaw in US-Cuba relations.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein, and senior executives from New York-based companies including JetBlue, MasterCard, Pfizer and Chobani will accompany the governor. "As the door begins to open between the U.S. and Cuba, we want New York businesses to be first out of the gate when it comes to building trade partnerships and establishing a strong position in this new market," Cuomo said. Cuomo, who has taken some criticism for not speaking out against Cuba's anti-gay and human rights record, touched on the issue in a statement. "New York has proudly long been a leader on issues of equality and human rights and I agree with the President that engagement is the best way to promote democracy and bring about positive change, rather than continuing a failed policy of isolation."

Tech Giants Denounce RFRA Bills

Via press release:

The values of diversity, fairness and equality are central to our industry. These values fuel creativity and inspiration, and those in turn make the U.S. technology sector the most admired in the world today. We believe it is critically important to speak out about proposed bills and existing laws that would put the rights of minorities at risk. The transparent and open economy of the future depends on it, and the values of this great nation are at stake.

Religious freedom, inclusion, and diversity can co-exist and everyone including LGBT people and people of faith should be protected under their states’ civil rights laws. No person should have to fear losing their job or be denied service or housing because of who they are or whom they love. However, right now those values are being called into question in states across the country. In more than twenty states, legislatures are considering legislation that could empower individuals or businesses to discriminate against LGBT people by denying them service if it they felt it violated their religious beliefs.

To ensure no one faces discrimination and ensure everyone preserves their right to live out their faith, we call on all legislatures to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone. Anything less will only serve to place barriers between people, create hurdles to creativity and inclusion, and smother the kind of open and transparent society that is necessary to create the jobs of the future. Discrimination is bad for business and that’s why we've taken the time to join this joint statement.

The statement is signed by top executives from eBay, Paypal, Zillow, Twitter, AirBnB, Cisco, SalesForce, Zynga, Yelp, Affirm, Square, Lyft, and many others.

NEW YORK CITY: New Anti-Airbnb Ad

A group called Share Better has taken their New York City campaign against Airbnb to television in recent weeks, with the below spot airing today on CNN. From their about page:

We are a group of New York City friends, neighbors, community activists and elected officials of this great city who have a unique perspective on the so-called “sharing economy” and Airbnb in our neighborhoods. Far from being a harmless service where New York City residents can share their homes with guests to the City, Airbnb enables New York City tenants to break the law and potentially violate their leases, it exacerbates the affordable housing crisis in our neighborhoods, and it poses serious public safety concerns for Airbnb guests, hosts and their neighbors.