Nondiscrimination Policy

Last updated: October 30, 2020

Vinera Hub is, at its core, a welcoming community dedicated to bringing the world of wine closer together by fostering meaningful, shared wine activities among people from all walks of life. Our community aims to be an incredibly diverse community, drawing together individuals of different cultures, values, and norms.

The Vinera Hub 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 Vinera Hub’s hosts and guests: inclusion and respect. Our shared commitment to these principles enables all members of our community to feel welcome on the Vinera Hub platform no matter who they are, where they come from, how they worship, or whom they love. Vinera Hub 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. Vinera Hub will provide additional guidance and adjust this nondiscrimination policy to reflect such permissions and 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 Vinera Hub 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 Vinera Hub community—hosts, guests and people just considering whether to use our platform—that goes above and beyond mere compliance. To that end, all of us, Vinera Hub team, 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, passion for wine and open minds. Joining Vinera Hub, 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. Vinera Hub appreciates that local laws and cultural norms vary around the world and 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. Vinera Hub’s members bring to our community an incredible diversity of background experiences, beliefs, and customs. By connecting people from different backgrounds, Vinera Hub 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, European Union, and Canada

As a general matter, we will familiarize ourselves with all applicable federal, state, and local laws that apply to alcohol, wine and places of public food and drink. 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 Vinera Hub customer service if they have any questions about their obligations to comply with this Vinera Hub Nondiscrimination Policy. Vinera Hub will release further discrimination policy guidance for jurisdictions outside the United States in the near future.

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

• Vinera Hub 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

Vinera Hub 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, and we expect our Vinera Hub 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.

• Vinera Hub hosts may not:
• Decline a booking from a guest based on gender identity.
• Impose any different terms or conditions based on gender.
• Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any guest on account of gender.

Age and Familial Status

• Vinera Hub hosts may:
• Impose different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the guest’s legal drinking age, where prohibited by local law.
  
  

• Vinera Hub 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, specially when it comes to wine activities.

Disability

• Vinera Hub 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 wine activity 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 wine activity 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 an assistance animal (such as a service or emotional­ support animal) because of the disability.
• 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, including relay operators (for people with hearing impairments) and e-mail (for people with vision impairments using screen readers).
• Refuse to provide reasonable accommodations, including flexibility when guests with disabilities request modest changes in your wine activity rules, such as bringing an assistance animal that is necessary because of the disability, or 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.
  
  

• Vinera Hub hosts may:
• Provide factually accurate information about the wine activity’s accessibility features (or lack of them), allowing for guests with disabilities to assess for themselves whether the wine activity is appropriate to their individual needs.

Personal Preferences

• Vinera Hub hosts may:
• Except as noted above, Vinera Hub hosts may decline a reservation based on factors that are not prohibited by law. For example, except where prohibited by law, Vinera Hub hosts may decline a reservation with pets, or to guests who smoke.

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, and Vinera Hub may suspend hosts who have demonstrated such a pattern from the Vinera Hub platform.

Specific Guidance for Hosts Outside the United States, European Union, and Canada

Outside of the United States, the European Union, and Canada, some countries or communities may allow or even require people to make accommodation distinctions based on, for example, marital status, national origin, gender or sexual orientation, in violation of our general nondiscrimination philosophy. In these cases, we do not require hosts to violate local laws, nor to accept guests that could expose the hosts to a real and demonstrable risk of arrest, or physical harm to their persons or property. Hosts who live in such areas should set out any such restriction on their ability to host particular guests in their listing, so that prospective guests are aware of the issue and Vinera Hub can confirm the necessity for such an action. In communicating any such restrictions, we expect hosts to use clear, factual, non-derogatory terms. Slurs and insults have no place on our platform or in our community.

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 and affirm his or her understanding and intent to comply with this policy and its underlying principles. Vinera Hub may also, in its discretion, take steps up to and including suspending the host from the Vinera Hub 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, Vinera Hub will take steps to enforce this policy, up to and including suspending the host from the platform.

As the Vinera Hub community grows, we will continue to ensure that Vinera Hub’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 Vinera Hub platform. The public, our community, and we ourselves, expect no less than this.

Additional Considerations

The Nondiscrimination Policy applies to all parts of the Vinera Hub business. We recognize there are additional considerations that need to be made for varied offerings in the Vinera Hub Community. Here, we have included a few considerations that speak to those instances:

Experiences

Gender Exemption:

• Vinera Hub Experience hosts may offer a single gender experience if it is necessary to create a safe space (one that does not incite harm or danger and one that is not illegal), protect the safety and privacy of participants, and/or comply with legal or cultural requirements.

Accessibility / Disability / Reasonable Accommodations:

Due to the broad range of Experience offerings, Vinera Hub Experience hosts may need to inquire about guests’ abilities to participate in certain physical activities or inquire about guests’ accommodation needs to best prepare their Experiences. Additionally, we encourage Experience hosts to:

• Provide factually accurate information about the physical nature of an Experience to allow guests to assess for themselves whether the Experience is appropriate given their individual needs.

• Actively engage with guests who have disclosed disabilities and/or have questions regarding the accessibility of an experience, and to consider reasonable accommodation requests.

• Seek opportunities to provide reasonable accommodations where accommodating a request would not substantively change the nature of the activity.