A university lecturer was left ‘shaking and unable to sleep’ after Airbnb refused to ban a guest who racially abused her.
Baoxiu Qi, a biomolecular science lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, was the victim of the attack following a dispute over the temperature of her flat.
Simone Kyriakopoulou, 49, who runs a Greek food van, launched the vile racist tirade against the host and submitted a wave of negative reviews as she checked out of the Bath property in December.
Ms Kyriakopoulou spent 20 days at the property as she manned a stand at the Bath Christmas Market.
In an apparent attempt to claim a refund, she complained she could not breathe in the house because of asbestos even though the Georgian Grade I listed property was built more than a century before the material was used in homes.
She then sent a series of racist messages to the host, calling her a ‘dictator from China‘, claiming she is from an ‘uncivilised background’ and that she is not English despite her passport.
Airbnb initially refused to ban her despite ‘relentless complaints’, instead telling Ms Qi to ‘post a professional public response to address the feedback’. She was removed following enquiries from the Daily Mail.
The lecturer, a super host who has used the booking platform for 11 years, has since lost numerous bookings and around £4,000 following the negative reviews and messages.
Baoxiu Qi, a lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, was subject to racist tirade on Airbnb
Simone Kyriakopoulou launched the vile racist rant against the host and submitted a wave of negative reviews as she checked out of the property
The Grade I listed property has been rented out on the platform by the super host platform for 11 years
She said the abuse has made her ‘look at the world differently’ and has made her ‘fear she doesn’t belong in the country anymore’.
Ms Kyriakopoulou, who previous hosts have accused of sending abusive messages, making up lies about their house, and urinating on their door, first left negative reviews complaining about the alleged cold temperature at the accommodation.
In the private feedback section, she then wrote: ‘As much as you want to be European in Bath, you are a dictator from China.
‘You deserve yourself. A passport doesn’t buy you a civilised background. You carry who you are and where you come from. Ok Chinese lady.’
She added: ‘Baoxiu you are Chinese you are Asian. Your face, your body language, your background and the way you behave, everything is Chinese. I understand you had a bad background and a bad life and you need to get it out to people.
‘You know Bath is a Roman city and you pride yourself on being in Bath for 20 years. You are Chinese from Asia. Your passport won’t buy you a new culture. England is Europe and Christian.’
Ms Qi, a Bath resident of 30 years, told the Daily Mail: ‘When I first read the messages it was horrendous. My whole body went cold and I was shaking.
‘The next day I checked again and I saw another racist and abusive message. It’s made me look at the world differently.
‘I’ve lived in Bath since I was 26 but it has made me look at people differently, it’s made me think, “Is this how people think of me?”
‘I couldn’t sleep afterwards for the first week. The financial loss is one thing but it’s more the mental stress.
Ms Kyriakopoulou told Baoxiu she was a ‘dictator from China’ and that a ‘passport doesn’t buy you a civilised background’
She also told the Bath resident of 30 years that her ‘passport won’t buy a new culture. England is Europe and Christian’
‘I would prefer it if she had punched me. If it was physical then I could have recovered but this has changed the way I interact with others, it’s made me question if I really belong here.
‘It’s really horrible, it happened on December 17 but it still feels really hurtful.
‘I’ve been living here for 30 years, I’ve never experienced anything like that.’
She added: ‘I think the financial loss is one thing, but another thing is the mental stress.
‘It really makes me feel like I just want to hide in some corner.’
Airbnb says they ‘prohibit users, including co-hosts and co-travellers, from discriminating against others on the basis of the following protected characteristics – including race, religion and nation of origin’ and their ‘nondiscrimination policy applies to all of Airbnb and all of its listings – homes, services and experiences’.
Despite providing evidence of the racist abuse, they initially refused to remove the public reviews.
They said: ‘After a thorough investigation, we have determined that the review must remain on your profile. Our review team found that the content of the review is relevant, as it directly described the guest’s firsthand experience during their stay.
‘We appreciate that this many not be what you’d hoped for, but won’t be able to offer additional support on this case at this time.
‘Generally we only remove reviews if they include prohibited speech, such as private information or hate speech – or if they are used as means of extortion.’
After weeks of chasing Airbnb, where Ms Qi spoke to tens of representatives, they were eventually removed.
Ms Qi said she has never suffered such racism before and it has left her questioning her place in the country
Airbnb refused to remove the negative reviews despite repeated attempts from the lecturer highlighting the racist abuse
And they only removed Ms Kyriakopoulou, who has lodged multiple complaints about her former host, from the app, after being contacted by this newspaper.
Airbnb said it blocked the guest from making reservations while their teams investigated the complaints.
Ms Qi said: ‘I complained to AirBnb relentlessly. The comments have now been deleted but the damage has been done and people have seen them.
‘Yesterday I got a call from Hampton’s estate agent who said some potential tenants asked about the issues as they spotted there was an alleged heating and water pressure issue.
‘The first comment was removed after ten days – after I called them on a daily basis. It took another week to remove the second one – but only after phone calls and rejections.
‘I wanted them to remove the guest from their platform as she’s clearly a racist.
‘At first they said they can’t remove her but sent a warning.
Ms Qi said she has received no bookings since the reviews were published even though she used to have one every weekend.
‘It was doing well. I was getting about £4,000 a month, now I’m getting nothing,’ she added.
‘I am disgusted and disheartened by the guest but Airbnb as well because how they’ve dealt with such a clear-cut attack on me.
‘It’s such obvious racism and I kept being referred to another person and another person. That drove me crazy.
‘I spoke to countless people. I called twice a day. I was so stressed around Christmas time and it ruined the period.
‘I was really shocked because I called them straight away and this is such a clear case. I thought anybody who saw that message would say, “Oh my God, we’re going to remove that immediately.” But that wasn’t the case.’
An Airbnb spokesperson said: ‘Discrimination has no place on Airbnb, and we take reports seriously.
‘As soon as we received this report, we suspended the guest and reached out to our host to provide support as we investigated. Following that investigation, we have removed the guest from the platform.’
