The Airbnb company investigated a complaint from an Israeli family who tried to rent an apartment in the town of San Vito di Cadore in northern Italy and was rejected by the landlord, who canceled the reservation.
Ynetnews initially reported that the cancellation message with the phrase "could be under the gas stove," which was sent by the owner of the apartment to the father of the family, sparked concern by the Israeli man that the refusal was due to antisemitic motives; but an inquiry by the short-term apartment rental giant, determined that it was a misunderstanding resulting from an innocent mistake in which the message was sent to the Israeli family instead of to another tenant who had difficulty operating the gas stove in the same property. The message mistakenly sent to the Israeli family had been sent four days after the host canceled the family's booking.
“As soon as this matter was reported to us, we launched an investigation and suspended the host. Based on this investigation, we have found that the message the guest received had not been intended for them, and was meant for another guest staying at the listing who was inquiring about how to use an appliance. This was an unfortunate mistake on the part of the host," Airbnb said in a statement.
"While the guest sent a message to the host inquiring about reserving the apartment, the host was in conversation with a guest who was staying in the apartment and needed assistance with the operation of a gas stove. The host mistakenly sent an instruction regarding the stove to a guest who was interested in reserving the apartment, instead of to the intended recipient - the guest who was in the apartment and whom he tried to help.
"The host declined the booking attempt because he had another guest who was staying for an extended period of time in the apartment. Regardless of the circumstances, we understand that this was a very unfortunate experience for the guest who tried to book and received the message, and we have been in contact with him to express our support. We are also in contact with the host .
"We have zero tolerance for discrimination, and we take every report seriously and continue to strictly enforce this policy."
Ynetnews regrets the error in the previous publication regarding concerns about alleged antisemitic behavior.