Systemic Racism Within The Travel Industry
The past few weeks have been turbulent as a result of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer Derek Chauvin. Protest against police brutality began and more people have been adding their voices to support Black Lives Matter. Tuesday, June 2nd became known as “Blackout Tuesday” on social media. The idea was for channels to mute themselves in an effort to Amplify Black Voices. People and brands posted black squares in solidarity. Many people applauded the brands and companies that decided to not only post black squares, but also to actively SPEAK OUT against racism and to disclose action plans to help support Black Lives Matter, promote diversity, and end systemic racism. Kudos to them for stepping up! But, did any one else notice that the travel industry has remained pretty silent as a whole? I spent hours trolling the social media accounts of various airlines, hotels, travel agencies, and concierge services following Blackout Tuesday, and found little to nothing. This made me think back on my travel experiences as a Black woman and reflect on the systemic racism that is woven throughout the travel industry.
Let me begin with my experiences as a child. My family and I would travel to Vegas pretty often and stay in the nicer hotels at the time (Bellagio, MGM Grand, ect). We were almost always the only Black family and we always seemed to have an extra long check-in process. Asking my parents for multiple forms of identification to verify the room, double checking how many people would be staying in the room, and often times an initial look of shock when matching the Black faces to the seemingly “non-Black” names on the booking paperwork (we will get into this later in the article). As a child, I figured this long check-in process and series of questions was normal for ALL families and guests of hotels. But after observing the process over many years (and at various travel locations) I realized that this process was most common for people of color and rarely happened to White people. This is an example of systemic racism. Many hotels or hotel staff employees, take extra precautions when checking in people of color. They assume the following:
They assume people of color can’t afford the room rate and they’ll exceed the capacity of the room (typically 4), to have more people stay in the room to split the cost and make it more affordable. So, people of color get asked multiple times, how many people are staying in the room.
They assume people of color tend to use counterfeit cash or stolen credit cards to pay for their rooms . So they ask to see multiple forms of ID or multiple credit cards to confirm their identities.
They assume people of color are loud. So, they put them on the ends of the hotel where they are less likely to “disturb the others guests.”
Now I realize that these assumptions are not always made on purpose. But, that is exactly how systemic racism persists. It’s the assumptions and stereotypes like the ones above that have been engrained into every day life to the point that White people often times don’t realize.
Referring back to my travel experiences with my family, let me point out some other instances that have occurred as a result of systemic racism. My family owns several timeshare weeks with the Marriott Vacation Club . Hotel staff are always taken aback when we say we are owners. The assumption by the staff is often that we are staying at the resort as “guests” under a friend’s name who is an owner. Why is it a shock that a Black family owns their own timeshare weeks to vacation at the resort? White families are always assumed to be owners and not “guests”. Why are people of color assumed to not be owners? SYSTEMIC RACISM, that’s why. After the shock of us being owners goes away, the next question they ask my father is" “what do you do for work?” They ask this question (when I say they I mean White people) because they assume that my father must be a retired athlete or involved in something illegal. Why? Because the assumption in America, is that Black men with enough money to take their families on luxury vacations, must be athletes or drug dealers. This is because the media doesn’t’ show Black men having “regular jobs” that produce enough income to support a family of 4 and pay for nice vacations This needs to change! The media needs to be more diverse in how it depicts Black families and other people of color. This will help with the ignorance of some White people who ask questions like, what do you do for work? If you wouldn’t ask a White man on vacation the same question, then don’t ask a Black man. That’s one way to stop systemic racism. Educate yourself and don’t remain ignorant to the lifestyles of people of color.
Moving on from my family’s experiences, here are some other things that people of color experience while traveling. Often times, reservations mysteriously “come up missing” once people of color arrive at a hotel, restaurant, or excursion. This is often because the name that was used to book the reservation didn’t seem “Black” or ethnic so the place confirmed the reservation. Once the party composed of Black people arrive at the venue, if the owner/manager deems the group as “ not the right fit” for their establishment, they use the creative language of “we can’t seem to find your reservation” to deny people of color entrance or to downgrade them to a lesser service option. For example, Airbnb has been known to not book people with African American names. So yes, this does happy…..STILL and it’s racist and needs to stop. Airbnb has released a statement on how they plan to stop this in the future. They did this as a result of the backlash that they’ve been getting. This means that if more people starting calling out companies who are known for discriminating acts like the ones mentioned above, they too will be forced to acknowledge the issue and change.
Another instance of systemic racism is that passports from primarily BIPOC countries (Black, Ingenious, people of color) are not allowed to travel to primarily White countries freely. This is because the people who govern non-BIPOC countries perceive the people from BIPOC countries to be dangerous, less than, or too untrustworthy to permit entrance into primarily White countries. This is evident when leaders like President Donald Trump refer to Haiti, El Salvador, and other African nations as ‘shithole countries' . This needs to stop, and the travel industry should it make it easier for all humans to vacation around the world.
I have plenty more stories to share in regards the the discrimination that I’ve experienced as a Black woman traveling, and I’m sure other women of color can chime in. In fact, please share your stories on the comments so that White people can understand that this IS happening and their White Privilege can make a difference in ending systemic racism.
Read this article has suggestions on things that the travel industry can do to fight against racism. Below are another 5 things that YOU an do to fight:
1) Demand that travel companies actively speak out against racism and publish action plans for how they plan to move forward. So far Marriott‘s CEO has released this post on LinkedIn. Make phone calls, direct message their social media accounts, send emails, tag them in the @pullupforchange challenge. Posting a black square (if they even did that) is NOT enough. PUBLIC statements and action plans are needed.
2) If you’re White, speak up for people of color when you notice bias, discrimination, prejudice, or racism happening. If you weren’t asked a question or asked to provide extra forms of identification but a person of color was, then speak up. Please and thank you!
3) Boycott travel brands who have not actively spoken out in favor of Black Lives Matter. Actions speak louder than words. When owners start loosing money, they’ll take action to affect change.
4) Continue to educate yourself on systemic racism and commit to ending it. Read books, listen to podcasts, and/or watch Netflix documentaries. There are so many resources out there to learn from. Also talk to more people of color and attend cultural events to better understand their perspectives and the issues that people of color face.
5) Support Black Owned businesses when you travel. Find a list of businesses here.
6) Share this article. The more people that know about the systemic racism in the travel industry, the quicker the issue can be rectified.
Please don’t forget to comment below with your personal travel stories and references for people who’d like to learn more about systemic racism.
