By Natalie DeCoste
One of the most popular vacation rental platforms, Airbnb, has blocked tens of thousands of rentals as part of the company’s efforts to stop partiers.
It was reported that Airbnb blocked or redirected what the company labeled as “potentially risky reservation attempts” from over 50,000 people across 15 U.S. cities as part of a crackdown on people throwing parties in rental properties during the pandemic. Those cancellations included 7,000 in Dallas, 6,000 in San Diego, 5,100 in Charlotte, 3,500 in St. Louis, 3,000 in Columbus, and 2,700 in New Orleans.
Ben Breit, the company’s head of trust and safety communication, reported the cancellations to The Verge. The Denver Post reported that Airbnb blocked 5,000 people from making bookings in Phoenix, 4,500 in Las Vegas, 4,500 in Seattle, 2,600 in Denver, 2,600 in Portland, 1,800 in Salt Lake City, and 1,500 in Albuquerque over the past year.
“If you are under the age of 25 and you don’t have a history of positive reviews, we will not allow you to book an entire home listing local to where you live,” said Ben Breit.
The booking policy still allowed young renters to book in distant locations and locations that make less sense as a party location. Airbnb is using this system across the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Spain.
The efforts to crack down on partying have been ongoing since July of 2020. The company first instituted policies banning designated “party houses” outright in 2019. Next, the company tightened those restrictions in 2020 with its “Summer of Safe Travel” initiative.
With the new initiative, Airbnb banned parties in its rentals outright, pointing to the ongoing global pandemic that necessitated social distancing and was not conducive to large social gatherings.
The company beefed up its policies surrounding party houses in its partnership with Vrbo through the Community Integrity Program.
The partnership is “an industry collaboration to address community safety by sharing important information on listings and strengthening action on the community threat posed by repeat party house offenders,” read the announcement of the partnership.
Airbnb has been adamant that its policies have worked to stop parties. The Denver Post seemed to confirm Airbnb’s claim with a report that complaints about short-term rental properties halved between January and May this year compared to the same period in 2020,
“To enforce that policy during higher-risk events like Halloween and New Year’s Eve, we introduced new systems and rules to strengthen our Hosts’ protection against unauthorized parties. We believe it worked. Those weekends were quiet, and these initiatives were well-received by our Host community,” said Airbnb.
Despite the increased number of vaccinated Americans, it does not seem like Airbnb will be changing its policies anytime soon and allowing for parties at its properties. The company recently said it would be extending its ban on parties through to the end of summer 2021.
