It was a great experiment. It got the predetermined outcome that the investigators wanted, and it got headlines and major news media, and the rebuttals won't have nearly as wide audience.
SF is 6.9 per 100K -> pretty high... higher than any city in Europe or Asia not currently with an active war... (On those continents, only Ukraine, Iraq, and Afghanistan are more dangerous than SF)
Not to defend SF but there are about 30 US cities with a higher homocide rate, that don't get nearly as much attention. SF is absolutely overrun by homeless though.
it seems like an easy way to create ambiguous bias to fire someone who is in the grey area before the Ritz Carlton. (i.e., I stayed at Motel 6, and this other person who I also hate stayed at the Holiday Inn - lets get rid of them)