Carousell takes action against 2 sellers who asked user about race during hotel bookings

Online marketplace Carousell has taken action against two sellers for discriminatory behaviour when conversing with a user who had tried to purchase hotel packages.

A Stomper said he had been enquiring about hotel packages listed on the platform last week.

One seller, @hotel000 asked, "May I know your race?" while another seller claimed that only Chinese guests are accepted for the Stomper's selected dates due to "the latest covid-19 rule".

The Stomper said: "Ridiculous, isn't it? I don’t think there are rules and regulations that only Chinese people can stay in a hotel?"

He subsequently reported the users and informed Carousell about the matter.

In response to a Stomp query, a spokesman for Carousell said it does not condone offensive or discriminatory behaviour of any kind.

The spokesman said: "Seller @mbs_hotel was immediately restricted from the marketplace while we conducted investigations. We had also conveyed this restriction to the buyer when they had reached out to us.

"Upon restriction, our content moderation team provided the seller with user education on why their behaviour violated our marketplace community guidelines.

"The seller acknowledged the restriction and their account is now reinstated. However, further action will be taken if any other offences are made.

"Seller @hotel000 has been issued a formal warning and user education, and further action will be taken if any other offences are made.

"We are in touch with the buyer to communicate the measures taken and are committed to investing in and improving our marketplace capabilities to provide a safe and trusted environment for buyers and sellers to transact.

"The trust and safety of our users is of utmost importance to us. We are continuing to ramp up our efforts to accurately detect and review listings with discriminatory behaviour.

"Should users encounter a similar issue, we urge them to click on the listing and select 'Report Listing', or click on the account and click 'Report User' so that we can take swift action."