If Airbnb wasn’t already a favorite of yours for travel and accommodations, perhaps this will sway you over.
Just this week, the home-sharing platform Airbnb made a massive donation in the amount of $100,000 to the well-known People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (or PETA), one of the largest players in the vegan and animals rights industry. The donation was made as a gesture to support PETA’s efforts to put an end to animal cruelty and mistreatment in the tourism industry.
“Airbnb is committed to promoting responsible animal tourism, and this support is provided in recognition of PETA’s ongoing work to protect animal welfare and all of PETA’s innovative and effective programs to advance empathy and end animal suffering,” said Airbnb Experiences Policy Director Natalia Merluzzi.
In response, PETA Executive VP Tracy Reiman said, “PETA looks forward to putting Airbnb’s generous donation to good use and is calling on others in the hospitality industry to follow the company’s lead in promoting humane tourism.”
While this is indeed a great step in the right direction, the hospitality company’s large donation to PETA is not the only thing they’ve done right recently.
Earlier this month, Airbnb introduced a new category to its list of Experiences called Airbnb Animal Experiences. This new program, designed with the help of the World Animal Protection group, was born out of a desire to bring travelers and animals together in a cruelty-free and exploitation-free way. The program consists of more than 1,000 total unique experiences that are based on the company’s strict and satisfyingly vegan policy “The Five Freedoms”, which sets rules and regulations to ensure that animals are never affected by hunger, thirst, pain, discomfort, humility, injury, or disease, and are allowed the freedom to act and exist as they normally would (e.g. not making a lion jump through a ring of fire).
Furthermore, Airbnb’s new “Five Freedoms” policy mandates that existing hosts refrain from promoting any and all companies or attractions (such as SeaWorld, horse and dog racing, cockfighting, circuses, etc.) that involve the exploitation of animals by any means.
Aside from offering amazingly unique stays and experiences, Airbnb is an animal lover’s dream company.
*Photo courtesy of Airbnb
