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<meta name="description" content="In an unfortunate marketing slipup, Airbnb sent a &quot;floating world&quot; themed marketing email to users on Monday (Aug. 28) as Hurricane Harvey continued to engulf Houston, Texas. The email, &quot;Floating homes, waterfall slides, &amp; more reasons to travel,&quot; advertises various water-themed homes and attractions for travelers to plan their trips around. &quot;Stay above water,&quot; reads..."/>
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			<span class="kicker">FLOATING WORLD</span>
		<h1 itemprop="headline">Airbnb sent an inconceivably bad marketing email as Hurricane Harvey pounded Houston</h1>	<div class="item-meta-mobile"><div class="byline item-meta-row">
	<h5>Written by</h5>

	
		
			
			<a href="https://qz.com/author/agriswoldqz/" class="author-name" data-index="0" itemprop="author">Alison Griswold</a>

			
			
			
		
		
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			<span class="timestamp" itemprop="datePublished">August 28, 2017</span>
	
	
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			<img itemprop="image" src="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/houston-hurricane-harvey-home-e1503964751392.jpg?quality=80&#038;strip=all&#038;w=320" alt="A sailboat sits in floodwaters next to a dog grooming business in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)" title="">
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	<figcaption class="featured-image-caption">
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			<i class="icon-camera"></i>“Stay above water.”							<span class="featured-image-credit has-space"> (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)</span>
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	<h5>Written by</h5>

	
		
			
			<a href="https://qz.com/author/agriswoldqz/" class="author-name" data-index="0" itemprop="author">Alison Griswold</a>

			
			
			
		
		
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			<span class="timestamp" itemprop="datePublished">August 28, 2017</span>
	
	
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<p>In an unfortunate marketing slipup, Airbnb sent a &ldquo;floating world&rdquo; themed marketing email to users on Monday (Aug. 28) as Hurricane Harvey <a href="https://qz.com/1063637/texas-floods-these-before-and-after-photos-from-tropical-storm-harvey-show-the-scale-of-houstons-flooding/">continued to engulf</a> Houston, Texas.</p>
<p>The email, &ldquo;Floating homes, waterfall slides, &amp; more reasons to travel,&rdquo; advertises various water-themed homes and attractions for travelers to plan their trips around. &ldquo;Stay above water,&rdquo; reads one sub-heading in the message. &ldquo;Live the life aquatic with these floating homes.&rdquo;</p>
<figure id="image-1064398" class="progressive-image inline-image  aligncenter zoomable size-medium"><picture style="padding-bottom: 88.199697428139%; background-image: url(https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=50);"><img src="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=50" class="progressive-image-thumbnail"><img data-srcset="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=320 320w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=640 640w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=940 940w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=1600 1600w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=3200 3200w" data-src="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=661" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 320px, 640px" class="progressive-image-large" alt="airbnb-floating-world"></picture><figcaption class="inline-image-caption"><i class="icon-camera"></i><span class="inline-image-credit has-space"> (Airbnb)</span></figcaption></figure><p>Hurricane Harvey has already left <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/28/harvey-may-force-30000-people-into-shelters-while-flooding-will-linger-officials-warn/?hpid=hp_hp-banner-main_houstonledeall-820am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory">nine people dead</a>, placed more than 30,000 in shelters, and dumped so much rain on Texas that the National Weather Service had to <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/28/546776542/national-weather-service-adds-new-colors-so-it-can-map-harveys-rains">add a new color</a> to its weather map. Up to 20 inches of additional rain is expected to fall in parts of Texas and Louisiana over the next several days.</p>
<figure id="image-1064393" class="progressive-image inline-image  aligncenter zoomable size-medium"><picture style="padding-bottom: 65.919282511211%; background-image: url(https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=50);"><img src="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=50" class="progressive-image-thumbnail"><img data-srcset="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=320 320w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=940 940w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1600 1600w, https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=3200 3200w" data-src="https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=669" sizes="(max-width: 320px) 320px, 640px" class="progressive-image-large" alt="airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected"></picture><figcaption class="inline-image-caption"><i class="icon-camera"></i><span class="inline-image-credit has-space"> (Airbnb)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The ill-timed marketing push was quick to draw criticism from recipients on Twitter. A Quartz employee based in Houston was among the Airbnb users to receive the email on Monday.</p>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey, <a href="https://twitter.com/Airbnb">@Airbnb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AirbnbHelp">@AirbnbHelp</a> -"Floating homes, waterfall slides, &amp; more reasons to travel" maybe not best email to send to Texas this morning <a href="https://t.co/5NvID4H2nt">pic.twitter.com/5NvID4H2nt</a></p>
<p>&mdash; jesuisverycleancoal (@jenniferinc) <a href="https://twitter.com/jenniferinc/status/901469011409604608">August 26, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>&ldquo;The timing of this email marketing campaign was insensitive and we apologize for that,&rdquo; Christopher Nulty, an Airbnb spokesman, told Quartz in an email. &ldquo;We continue to keep everyone affected by Harvey and all the first responders and their families in our thoughts.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Airbnb has worked hard to build disaster relief into its community-oriented brand. The company has a &ldquo;disaster response&rdquo; program it typically activates after natural disasters and other catastrophic events around the world, which connects displaced people and emergency relief workers with local Airbnb hosts who volunteer to open up their homes for free. Airbnb activated this program in Barcelona after the deadly terrorist attacks that occurred earlier this month. It has <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/disaster-response">enabled the feature</a> for Hurricane Harvey, and more than 250 listings with a price of $0 are currently available on the <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/disaster/hurricaneharveyevacuees">designated webpage</a>.</p>
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	QZ.bootstrap = {"https:\/\/qz.com\/api\/article\/1064387\/":{"version":3,"header":{"name":"Article","path":"article\/1064387\/","slug":"article","type":"article"},"items":[{"id":1064387,"title":"Airbnb sent an inconceivably bad marketing email as Hurricane Harvey pounded Houston","slug":"airbnb-sent-a-floating-world-marketing-email-in-the-middle-of-hurricane-harvey","permalink":"https:\/\/qz.com\/1064387\/airbnb-sent-a-floating-world-marketing-email-in-the-middle-of-hurricane-harvey\/","date":{"published":"2017-08-29 00:27:53","updated":"2017-08-29 00:27:53","pretty":"August 28, 2017"},"postType":"article","summary":"In an unfortunate marketing slipup, Airbnb sent a &#8220;floating world&#8221; themed marketing email to users on Monday (Aug. 28) as Hurricane Harvey continued to engulf&hellip;","inlineAds":[],"content":"\n<p>In an unfortunate marketing slipup, Airbnb sent a &ldquo;floating world&rdquo; themed marketing email to users on Monday (Aug. 28) as Hurricane Harvey <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1063637\/texas-floods-these-before-and-after-photos-from-tropical-storm-harvey-show-the-scale-of-houstons-flooding\/\">continued to engulf<\/a> Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The email, &ldquo;Floating homes, waterfall slides, &amp; more reasons to travel,&rdquo; advertises various water-themed homes and attractions for travelers to plan their trips around. &ldquo;Stay above water,&rdquo; reads one sub-heading in the message. &ldquo;Live the life aquatic with these floating homes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"image-1064398\" class=\"progressive-image inline-image  aligncenter zoomable size-medium\"><picture style=\"padding-bottom: 88.199697428139%; background-image: url(https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=50);\"><img src=\"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=50\" class=\"progressive-image-thumbnail\"><img data-srcset=\"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=320 320w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=640 640w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=940 940w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=1600 1600w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=3200 3200w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-floating-world.png?w=661\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 320px, 640px\" class=\"progressive-image-large\" alt=\"airbnb-floating-world\"><\/picture><figcaption class=\"inline-image-caption\"><i class=\"icon-camera\"><\/i><span class=\"inline-image-credit has-space\"> (Airbnb)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Hurricane Harvey has already left <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2017\/08\/28\/harvey-may-force-30000-people-into-shelters-while-flooding-will-linger-officials-warn\/?hpid=hp_hp-banner-main_houstonledeall-820am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory\">nine people dead<\/a>, placed more than 30,000 in shelters, and dumped so much rain on Texas that the National Weather Service had to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2017\/08\/28\/546776542\/national-weather-service-adds-new-colors-so-it-can-map-harveys-rains\">add a new color<\/a> to its weather map. Up to 20 inches of additional rain is expected to fall in parts of Texas and Louisiana over the next several days.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"image-1064393\" class=\"progressive-image inline-image  aligncenter zoomable size-medium\"><picture style=\"padding-bottom: 65.919282511211%; background-image: url(https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=50);\"><img src=\"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=50\" class=\"progressive-image-thumbnail\"><img data-srcset=\"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=320 320w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=940 940w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1600 1600w, https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=3200 3200w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected.jpeg?quality=80&amp;strip=all&amp;w=669\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 320px, 640px\" class=\"progressive-image-large\" alt=\"airbnb-stay-above-water_colorcorrected\"><\/picture><figcaption class=\"inline-image-caption\"><i class=\"icon-camera\"><\/i><span class=\"inline-image-credit has-space\"> (Airbnb)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>The ill-timed marketing push was quick to draw criticism from recipients on Twitter. A Quartz employee based in Houston was among the Airbnb users to receive the email on Monday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hey, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Airbnb\">@Airbnb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AirbnbHelp\">@AirbnbHelp<\/a> -\"Floating homes, waterfall slides, &amp; more reasons to travel\" maybe not best email to send to Texas this morning <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5NvID4H2nt\">pic.twitter.com\/5NvID4H2nt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; jesuisverycleancoal (@jenniferinc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jenniferinc\/status\/901469011409604608\">August 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;The timing of this email marketing campaign was insensitive and we apologize for that,&rdquo; Christopher Nulty, an Airbnb spokesman, told Quartz in an email. &ldquo;We continue to keep everyone affected by Harvey and all the first responders and their families in our thoughts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Airbnb has worked hard to build disaster relief into its community-oriented brand. The company has a &ldquo;disaster response&rdquo; program it typically activates after natural disasters and other catastrophic events around the world, which connects displaced people and emergency relief workers with local Airbnb hosts who volunteer to open up their homes for free. Airbnb activated this program in Barcelona after the deadly terrorist attacks that occurred earlier this month. It has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airbnb.com\/disaster-response\">enabled the feature<\/a> for Hurricane Harvey, and more than 250 listings with a price of $0 are currently available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airbnb.com\/disaster\/hurricaneharveyevacuees\">designated webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n","hero":{"id":1064396,"alt":"A sailboat sits in floodwaters next to a dog grooming business in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)","caption":"\u201cStay above water.\u201d","credit":"AP Photo\/David J. Phillip","width":4484,"height":2418,"aspectRatio":1.8544251447477,"url":"https:\/\/qzprod.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/houston-hurricane-harvey-home-e1503964751392.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=4484","size":"extra-large"},"kicker":"FLOATING WORLD","seoTitle":"Airbnb sent a &quot;floating world&quot; marketing email in the middle of Hurricane Harvey","facebookDescription":"\u201cStay above water. 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