MiniStays Nondiscrimination Policy

March 11, 2024

Last updated: April 15th, 2024

MiniStays is, at its core, an open community dedicated to bringing the world closer together. Our community is an incredibly diverse community, drawing together individuals of different cultures, values, and norms.

The MiniStays community is committed to building a world where people from every background feel welcome and respected. No matter how far they have traveled from home. This commitment rests on two foundational principles that apply both to MiniStays’s hosts and guests: inclusion and respect. Our shared commitment to these principles enables all members of our community to feel welcome on the MiniStays platform. No matter who they are, where they come from, how they worship, or whom they love. MiniStays recognizes that some jurisdictions permit, or require, distinctions among individuals based on factors such as national origin, gender, marital status or sexual orientation, and it does not require Hosts to violate local laws or take actions that may subject them to legal liability. MiniStays will provide additional guidance and adjust this nondiscrimination policy to reflect such requirements in the jurisdictions where they exist.

While we do not believe that one company can mandate harmony among all people. We do believe that the MiniStays community can promote empathy and understanding across all cultures. We are all committed to doing everything we can to help eliminate all forms of unlawful bias, discrimination, and intolerance from our platform. We want to promote a culture within the MiniStays community that goes above and beyond mere compliance. To that end, all of us, MiniStays employees, hosts and guests alike, agree to read and act in accordance with the following policy to strengthen our community and realize our mission of ensuring that everyone can belong, and feels welcome, anywhere.

Inclusion – We welcome people of all backgrounds with authentic hospitality and open minds. Joining MiniStays, as a host or guest, means becoming part of a community of inclusion. Bias, prejudice, racism, and hatred have no place on our platform or in our community. While hosts are required to follow all applicable laws that prohibit discrimination based on such factors as race, religion, national origin, and others listed below, we commit to do more than comply with the minimum requirements established by law.

Respect – We are respectful of each other in our interactions and encounters. MiniStays appreciates that local laws and cultural norms vary around the world. And we expects Hosts and Guests to abide by local laws, and to engage with each other respectfully, even when views may not reflect their beliefs or upbringings. MiniStays’s members bring to our community an incredible diversity of background experiences, beliefs, and customs. By connecting people from different backgrounds, MiniStays fosters greater understanding and appreciation for the common characteristics shared by all human beings and undermines prejudice rooted in misconception, misinformation, or misunderstanding.

Specific Guidance for Hosts in the United States

As a general matter, we will familiarize ourselves with all applicable federal, state, and local laws that apply to housing. Some jurisdictions may have additional legal requirements that expand or limit the civil right protections of the user community. Hosts are required to comply with such legal requirements. Hosts should contact MiniStays customer service if they have any questions about their obligations to comply with MiniStays Nondiscrimination Policy. Guided by these principles, our U.S. host community will follow these rules when considering potential guests and hosting guests:

Race, Color, Ethnicity, National Origin, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, or Marital Status

MiniStays hosts may not:

Decline a booking based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
Impose any different terms or conditions based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any guest on account of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

Gender Identity

MiniStays does not assign a gender identity to our users. We consider the gender of individuals to be what they identify and/or designate on their user profiles. Similarly, we expect our MiniStays community to do the same. This includes respecting the pronouns (he/him, she/her, they/them, etc.) any users within the community identify themselves with.

MiniStays hosts may not:

Decline a booking from a guest based on gender identity unless the host shares living spaces with the guest. (for example, bathroom, kitchen, or common areas)
Impose any different terms or conditions based on gender unless the host shares living spaces with the guest.
Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any guest on account of gender. Unless the host shares living spaces with the guest.

MiniStays hosts may:

Make a unit available to guests of the host’s gender and not the other, where the host shares living spaces with the guest.

Age and Familial Status

MiniStays hosts may not:

Impose any different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the guest’s age or familial status, where prohibited by law.

MiniStays hosts may:

Provide factually accurate information about their listing’s features (or lack of them) that could make the listing unsafe or unsuitable for guests of a certain age or families with children or infants.
Note in their listings applicable community restrictions (e.g., senior housing), regulations, or laws that prohibit guests under a particular age or families with children or infants.

Disability

MiniStays hosts may not:

Decline a guest based on any actual or perceived disability.
Impose any different terms or conditions based on the fact that the guest has a disability.
Substitute their own judgment about whether a unit meets the needs of a guest with a disability for that of the prospective guest.
Inquire about the existence or severity of a guest’s disability, or the means used to accommodate any disability. If, however, a potential guest raises his or her disability, a host may, and should, discuss with the potential guest whether the listing meets the potential guest’s needs.
Prohibit or limit the use of mobility devices.
Charge more in fees for guests with disabilities, including pet fees when the guest has a service animal.
Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any guest on account of the fact that the guest has a disability.
Refuse to communicate with guests through accessible means that are available. This includes relay operators (for people with hearing impairments) and e-mail (for people with vision impairments using screen readers).
Refuse to provide reasonable accommodations. This includes flexibility when guests with disabilities request modest changes in your house rules, such as using an available parking space near the unit. When a guest requests such an accommodation, the host and the guest should engage in a dialogue to explore mutually agreeable ways to ensure the unit meets the guest’s needs.

MiniStays hosts may:

Provide factually accurate information about the unit’s accessibility features (or lack of them). This allows for guests with disabilities to assess for themselves whether the unit is appropriate to their individual needs.

Are service animals and assistance animals allowed?

Yes. Service animals and assistance animals, including emotional support animals, aren’t pets. They’re welcome at every property on MiniStays, including properties that don’t allow pets, and hosts can’t charge a pet fee or pet deposit for them.

Guests: let your host know through MiniStays messaging before check-in. Until the booking form offers a separate option, don’t count your assistance animal as a pet when booking. You’re responsible for any damage your animal causes, the same as any guest.

Hosts: you must allow service and assistance animals and can’t charge pet fees for them. You’re responsible for following fair housing and disability laws that apply to your property. If you have questions about your obligations, a local attorney or your state’s fair housing agency can help.

Personal Preferences

MiniStays hosts may:

Except as noted above, MiniStays hosts may decline a booking based on factors that are not prohibited by law. For example, except where prohibited by law, MiniStays hosts may decline a booking with pets, or to guests who smoke.
Require guests to respect restrictions on foods consumed in the listing. (e.g., a host who maintains a Kosher or vegetarian kitchen may require guests to respect those restrictions). These restrictions should be stated clearly in your listing or be made clear prior to a guest booking. For example, a MiniStays host may turn down a guest who wants to smoke in a unit, or place limits on the number of guests in a unit.

When guests are turned down

Hosts should keep in mind that no one likes to be turned down. While a host may have, and articulate, lawful and legitimate reasons for turning down a potential guest, it may cause that member of our community to feel unwelcome or excluded. Hosts should make every effort to be welcoming to guests of all backgrounds. Hosts who demonstrate a pattern of rejecting guests from a protected class (even while articulating legitimate reasons) undermine the strength of our community by making potential guests feel unwelcome. MiniStays has the right to suspend hosts who have demonstrated such a pattern from the MiniStays platform.

What happens when a host does not comply with our policies in this area?

If a particular listing contains language contrary to this nondiscrimination policy, the host will be asked to remove the language. The Host will also need to affirm their understanding and intent to comply with this policy and its underlying principles. MiniStays may also, in its discretion, take steps up to and including suspending the host from the MiniStays platform.

If the host improperly rejects guests on the basis of protected class, or uses language demonstrating that his or her actions were motivated by factors prohibited by this policy, MiniStays will take steps to enforce this policy. That includes, suspending or permanently removing the host from the platform.

As the MiniStays community grows, we will continue to ensure that MiniStays’s policies and practices align with our most important goal: To ensure that guests and hosts feel welcome and respected in all of their interactions using the MiniStays platform. The public, our community, and we ourselves, expect no less than this.