Rental firm Airbnb bans big party houses worldwide
Airbnb announced a global ban on parties and events at Airbnb listings, with an occupancy cap of 16 people worldwide.
“This party ban applies to all future bookings on Airbnb and it will remain in effect indefinitely until further notice,” according to a company statement provided by Airbnb spokesperson Ben Breit on Thursday.
Parties have been a problem for the short-term rental company for some time, both before and during the coronavirus pandemic. One party at a New Jersey Airbnb attracted more than 700 people. A 31-year-old handyman is suffering in the hospital after he was shot Sunday trying to break up a party held in an Airbnb, officials in Ohio said.
As the pandemic began, the company removed its “event friendly” search filter and its “parties and events allowed” house rules from listings that had previously allowed them. It also required guests to follow local COVID-19 public health laws. This led to an effective patchwork ban on parties and events, according to the company. But as public health attitudes have shifted depending on COVID-19 rates, people have relaxed behaviors, including at short-term rentals.
Unauthorized parties were never technically been allowed on the platform, with 73% of its listings already banning them as part of their house rules. The company laid down stricter limits last year with a ban on “party houses” worldwide, i.e. “listings that create persistent neighborhood nuisance.”
It’s also done manual reviews of what it considers high-risk reservations and restricted the rental permissions for guests under the age of 25 as part of its effort to get house parties under control.
The company announced earlier this year that U.S. guests under the age of 25 who have fewer than three positive reviews and any negative reviews would be restricted from booking entire homes in areas close to where they live. However, they are still allowed to book “any type of listing outside their local area” in addition to private rooms and hotel rooms anywhere.
There many be an exception to the new more-than-16-people policy: “We are currently scoping a potential exception process for specialty and traditional hospitality venues (i.e. boutique hotels),” per the company’s statement. “Guests will be informed about Airbnb’s party rules and informed that they may be legally pursued by Airbnb if they violate our policy. This work is currently being operationalized and will be rolled out in the near future.”
Airbnb acknowledges that 16 people is no “magic number,” saying that it will “continue to enforce our party rules against groups of any size and will be taking action both on guests and listings if we receive reports from neighbors,” the statement concluded. And given that the service largely runs on the honor system, it’s likely guests will still try to get away with whatever they can.
Eric Haberthier, leader of the Greater Cincinnati Owners Airbnb Association, said the problem of unruly parties at short-term rentals is widespread in Cincinnati and nationwide. He said owners are facing a tough situation where they have to balance not discriminating against renters, but also trying to protect their properties.
As Sunday’s shooting demonstrates, addressing the problem after the parties start has proved dangerous. Haberthier said police response is often slow and sometimes doesn’t happen at all.
Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate said the department is seeing an increase in these pop-up parties now that there is a 10 p.m. last call for serving alcohol rule in Ohio to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
Officers are often called after there is already an altercation, Neudigate said. Plus, making it more difficult, is that when the community calls and complains, the people go to another location, he added.
Airbnb on Wednesday filed preliminary paperwork for selling stock on Wall Street, undaunted by a global pandemic that has taken some wind out of its home-sharing business.
This comes as the company continues to contend with the effects of the pandemic, including an onslaught of refund complaints.
It also recently suspended homerental service Domio from its platform following a damning report from The Information.
“An investigation shows (Domio) has engaged in efforts to flout local rental laws with misleading online identities and other questionable business practices,” according to the outlet, which covers the tech industry in depth.
According to another statement from Breit: “We have indefinitely suspended all of Domio’s associated host accounts and listings as we expand our investigation into their activity dating back to 2016. We will not hesitate to take aggressive action to remove suspicious content from our platform and, depending on the outcome of our investigation, we will determine the appropriate longterm action to take against these accounts.”
The pandemic initially hurt demand for the 7 million properties listed by Airbnb. Chesky has said that Airbnb’s 2020 revenue will likely be less than half what the company booked last year.