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Airbnb Officially Bans Parties in All Short-Term Rental Properties Permanently

By on July 8, 2022 0 283Views

Short-term rental company Airbnb has announced it’s ban on all parties in its properties as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signs new statewide short-term rental legislation.

In August 2020, Airbnb announced a temporary ban on all parties and events in listings globally, which at the time was in effect “until further notice.”

The temporary ban has proved effective for property owners, and this week Airbnb officially codifyied the ban as their policy.

Historically, Airbnb allowed hosts to use their best judgment and authorize parties when appropriate for their home and neighborhood. In late 2019, the company tightened their measures to prohibit both “open-invite” parties (i.e., those advertised on social media) as well as “chronic party houses” that had developed into neighborhood nuisances. At that time, Airbnb also launched their Neighborhood Support Line in a number of jurisdictions as a direct line for neighbors to communicate any concerns to Airbnb, which helped enforce that prohibition on party houses.

When the pandemic hit, as many bars and clubs closed or restricted their occupancy, Airbnb began to see some people taking partying behavior to rented homes. This was concerning due to both the disruptive nature of unauthorized parties and the risk of such gatherings spreading the virus. As such, Airbnb announced the party ban to our community as being “in the best interest of public health.”

Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure. It developed into a bedrock community policy to support the property owners and their neighbors.

Airbnb believes there is a direct correlation between their implementation of the policy in August 2020 and a 44% year-over-year drop in the rate of party reports.  The ban has been well received by the owners and Airbnb has received positive feedback from community leaders and elected officials. Airbnb feels the time is right to codify their policy.

Disruptive parties and events will continue to be prohibited, including open-invite gatherings. “Party house” properties will continue to be strictly prohibited as well.

The temporary party ban policy announced in summer 2020 included a 16-person occupancy cap — which was prompted primarily by COVID-19 concerns around large gatherings prior to the introduction of vaccines. As part of the updated policy, and based on feedback from a number of home owners who have listings that can house above 16 people comfortably, Airbnb will remove this cap.

Airbnb’s recent Summer Release introduced categories, which highlight several types of larger homes that, by definition, are capable of comfortably and safely housing more than 16 people, from castles in Europe to vineyards in the US to large beachfront villas in the Caribbean. Amazing properties like these thrive on hosting multi-generational family trips and larger groups, and removing this cap is meant to allow those hosts to responsibly utilize the space in their homes while still complying with our ban on disruptive parties.

The policy will continue to include serious consequences for guests who attempt to violate these rules, varying from account suspension to full removal from the platform. In 2021, over 6,600 guests were suspended from Airbnb for attempting to violate our party ban.

In addition, Airbnb has introduced a number of anti-party measures in recent years to enforce their policy and try to stop both unauthorized parties and chronic party houses.

These include anti-party reservation prevention, special holiday anti-party measures, a 24-hour safety line, our Neighborhood Support Line, and a partnership with Vrbo to share information on repeat “party house” offenders in the US.