In June, Airbnb announced that our previously temporary ban on parties will become a codified policy. Airbnb are continuing our work to enforce that policy by taking measures trying to the best of their ability to take on unauthorised parties — meaning parties thrown without the knowledge or consent of Airbnb Hosts.
Airbnb state that it is integral to their commitment to the Aibnb Host community — who respect their neighbours and want no part of the property damage and other issues that may come with unauthorised or disruptive parties.
This week Airbnb announced the introduction of new anti-party tools in the USA and Canada to help identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of the holiday rental platform.
For example, this system looks at factors like history of positive reviews (or lack of positive reviews), length of time the guest has been on Airbnb, length of the trip, distance to the listing, and weekend vs. weekday, among many other factors.
The primary objective is to reduce the ability of bad guests to throw unauthorised parties which negatively impact Airbnb Hosts, neighbours of holiday rental properties, and the holiday and local communities the Airbnb listed properties are based in.
A similar variation of this system was piloted in Australia in October 2021, where it’s been very effective.
Airbnb have seen a 35 per cent drop in incidents of unauthorised parties in areas of Australia where this pilot has been in effect. The pilot phase of the program in Australia and this product is codified nationwide.
Airbnb are hoping for similar success as they begin testing in the US and Canada.
This anti-party technology is designed to prevent a reservation attempt from going through. Guests who are unable to make entire home bookings due to this system will still be able to book a private room (where the Host is more likely to be physically on site) or a hotel room through Airbnb.
This system is a more robust and sophisticated version of the “under-25” system that has been in effect in North America since 2020, which focuses primarily on guests under the age of 25 without positive reviews who are booking locally. Airbnb anticipate that this new system will help prevent more badly behaved guests using the platform while having less impact on will intended guests, who are not trying to throw a party. While Airbnb are consistently willing to make trade-offs in the interests of building trust, their goal is to make these systems as precise and fair as possible to support our Hosts and guests.
While Airbnb are optimistic that this technology will have a positive impact on the safety of the holiday rental community reducing unauthorised parties — they make it clear that no system is perfect.
Ideally dissuading bad guests from using the platform, ultimately Airbnb is an online platform that facilitates real world connections. Airbnb continually seek to partner with experts and communities to complement safety efforts, and we continue to invest in our Neighbourhood Support Line to facilitate direct communication with neighbours regarding potential parties in progress or concerns with any nearby listings. Airbnb promise to communicate with transparency about the results of this testing phase and the next steps of our ban on parties.