To think this is fucking crazy

[itstheendoftheworldasweknowitnow]

We’re en route to a holiday rental in France. I wasn’t sure if the pool was shared or not between other guests so emailed the owner to ask. This is his reply - which I put in to google translate
Could you tell me if sharing the swimming pool with us who occupy the ground floor bothers you and for what reason? Recently we refused the rental because the wife and the two young daughters were veiled; are you english or muslim? We do not want you to make the trip and see yourself refused access to our property for reasons of displaying religious beliefs which are very resented by the neighborhood.

Fuck Fuck Fuck
What the hell do I do?
I am not a Muslim.
I am also not a racist.

"The bit about are you English or Muslim… as if you can’t be both"

Exactly. People acting like it's a bit of misunderstanding have to be wilfully missing that line. I'm a major Francophile, we go there at least once a year, but this guy is a racist. It feels too late to change plans now unless he's prepared to give you a refund (he surely can't expect to refuse you entry but keep your money) and you can quickly find something else on gites de france or booking or airbnb or whatever. So going ahead and then leaving a detailed review afterwards is probably your best option.

I had similar but in Morocco. I booked a villa. They didn't tell su there would be a male gardener and maintenance guy living and working on site until after booked and paid.
It was suggested but not confirmed in the confirmation email.

I emailed asking if they had any male staff on site because I am muslim and cover my hair etc. And that I.only wanted to know as I would buy myself a covered swimsuit. Just wanted to be prepared.

I had explained it was so I could buy the correct clothing and that it wasn't a problem him being there.

They emailed back stating that they are refusing my booking so I didn't complain...

Their loss. I rebooted somewhere else who confirmed there was male staff and so I packed my covered swim suit with no issues at all.

Fancy throwing money away when someone asked a question, not a complaint. And they should have made it clear in the original booking advertisement.

^ This.

The question was "is the pool shared" try and keep up.

“Are you English or are you Muslim”… erm you could well be both.

But - honestly I’d just go- have your holiday, avoid the owner as much as possible and then write a review including this (as you will then warn anyone who doesn’t fancy having to share a pool with a racist).

I got the impression that there was a bit of a history, Reading between the lines he has had previous people make a fuss about sharing the pool because of their religious beliefs - and that has made everyone uncomfortable. But it's just speculation...
But as others have said - you're on your way, Enjoy your holiday.

@itstheendoftheworldasweknowitnow I was coming on here to say much the same. It sounds racist, but I would be inclined to give the benefit of the doubt here. Google doesn't always get it right when it comes to the exact nuances of what is being said in another language.

Plus, I would suspect that the family they turned away were demanding that they had private access to the pool because of their Religion and were told they couldn't have sole use of the pool and if that was what they wanted they would have to stay somewhere else. Plus as face coverings are banned and they were wearing them, it is not allowed in France and may very well have got the Landlord into major trouble for allowing them to stay if they refused to remove the face coverings.

Hope you just replied, that you aren't Muslim and were simply wondering how many people shared the pool and how busy it might therefore be.

I think the burka is illegal in France, so this guy is trying to stay within the law. We may not like the law, but he is obliged to obey it.

I'm guessing you're going somewhere quite rural.

I'm a French speaker and yes his message is saying that he won't have women wearing veils in his property and anyone veiled won't be welcome as people in the neighbourhood don't like it.

There is a lot of tension in France around religious dress and symbolism which is banned in public life as part of the policy of 'laïcité' (secularism) which is tied into the 'egalité' (equality) element of the French constitution. It's very strongly felt in France and I think unless you understand the culture around it, it's difficult to accept that people think it's ok to hold and express views like the Airbnb owner's. Unfortunately the banning of religious dress has fuelled racist views and allowed them to become acceptable.

Frankly I would just get on with it. Yes he's racist, but you're en route now and it's going to be very difficult to reorganise your holiday with such little notice.

However, when you get back, I would report him to Airbnb and send them the messages. Airbnb owners are not allowed to refuse people to stay in their property for reasons of 'race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status' as per their nondiscrimination policy, so he will get himself banned from the site as a consequence. I would also leave a review saying the same thing.

… and then leave a candid review including his original reply in French.

Can’t believe you are only just finding out you’re sharing a pool with owners. Is that not the research to do before booking or is it just a one night stop?

They have a weird attitude to authority in that they are more hierarchical than the UK (you have to email the right person at the right level of a company for them to pass the message up/down) but also much less respectful of authority/tolerant of people lording it over them (Les revolution). Hence, for example, someone might chat every day to the dentist receptionist in the street but find them behaving icy to the point of rudeness when they are at the dentist trying to book an appointment. "I am not your slave" being the basic attitude for anything customer service related. The opposite of Americans really.

But while that explains the tone of the email, it also implies some racism. You get that attitude from some UK people to but they would be much more roundabout about it. I would still go though. But I wouldn't reply. I would leave them wondering till you show up.

The burqa (not hijab) is only banned in public places in France.

An Airbnb is not a public place. It is a private property.

This isn't about the Airbnb owner being afraid of breaking the law. It's about racism, pure and simple.

All conspicuous religious symbols are banned in France. It's not just the burkha Catholic nuns can't wear their habits in public either.

What? Another racist post

Agree with this response. I don't think you have much option now but to go there or lose your money and holiday.
What a horrible racist though!

Hey guys, guess what! Things are different in other countries, not everyone behaves like we do in this country.

This is highly sensitive issue in France due to the importance of the laïcité laws which apply to everyone, the large and quite poorly integrated Muslim population and the number of Islamist acts of violence that have been committed there over the last decade and yes, there are some less tolerant views in parts of France outside Paris.

You are not going to solve any of these problems by your overweening sense of self-righteousness, why not just enjoy the holiday you have paid for and perhaps meet and talk with people who have a different perspective than you, even if you don't agree with them.

Perhaps avoid France for holidays in future,

Totally not the point though is it.. the point now is that the owner is coming across as awfully racist and they're not sure whether they want to go! Might not have occurred to them to ask any earlier, either way, sharing the pool isn't the problem!

His text is alarming and sadly the google translation is very accurate (I speak fluent French).

This paragraph is awful!

Nous ne souhaitons pas que vous effectuiez le déplacement et vous voir voir refuser l'accès à notre propriété pour des raisons d'affichage de convictions religieuses très mal ressenties par le voisinage.

We do not want you to arrive here and then find yourselves refused access to our property as you are displaying items of religious conviction which are viewed very badly by our neighbors/the locals.

He is careful to not say he views them badly but let’s face it he would be the one refusing access on the basis of (certain) signs of religious observation.

If it was via a booking platform I would lodge a complaint and report him.

Would be interesting to know whether if a guest turned up wearing a head covering if he would reimburse their holiday on the spot after « after illegally refusing them access to the property.

Note he does not say they would be refused access to the (shared) pool but the property.

His comment asking if you are « English or Muslim » is also highly racist. And has strong far right overtones for me. As he clearly considers anyone Muslim could not be English!

I've only read through the OP's posts, so sorry if this has already been said 20 times but if you're staying with AIrBnB, then the owner's don't yet have the money, AirBnB will be holding it. In my experience, AirBnB are vey accommodating and it's not difficult to get your money back if you phone them

I presume like a few other people has said that he has a very unpleasant time with some of the previous guests.

We once shared a pool with a few families, one of them were Turkish- the dad refused to be in the pool and would not allowed his teenage sons be in the water if any women were in the pool. The thing was, they would leave the pool instead of expecting everyone else not to use it though, so we ended up having a schedule when their family was using it for themselves.
Maybe his guests were a pain in the ass and the owner had to ask them to leave, and now all Muslim guests are tarred with the same brush.

Well, being naked would not avoid open religious symbolism if any of the males are circumcised

The French are quite racist. I say this as a mixed race person who’s part French.

Exactly. There were women in hijab refereeing different sport during the Olympics in public with no issue.

The translation is not great... "très mal ressentie" could also be translated in the sense of "making others uncomfortable". The verb "resent" in English is much stronger than the landlord probably intends, basically it is not the best translation.

Putting that aside, the response was spiky and I would not like it even with "uncomfortable" instead of "resented". And, is he a moron? You could easily be both English and Muslim, as he surely surely knows, in a country with a sizable population of French-Muslims.