Airbnb makes global party ban permanent

Reports of parties at listed properties have dropped 44% from a year ago, Airbnb said. Credit: Pexels

Airbnb has announced its global ban on parties and events at homes on its platform will be made permanent. The home rental platform began the crackdown in 2019 after a fatal shooting at a party in a Californian house. At that time, the company prohibited advertising parties at Airbnb locations on social media. But the number of parties at Airbnb locations increased during the pandemic, Airbnb said, as people moved gatherings from bars and clubs to rented homes. That led to a temporary ban in 2020.

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The San Francisco company believes its ban has worked, saying on Tuesday that reports of parties at listed properties have dropped 44% from a year ago.

"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," Airbnb said, adding that more than 6,600 guests were suspended last year for related violations.

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While making the ban permanent, Airbnb said exceptions to the ban may be made for "specialty and traditional hospitality venues" in the future. Also, it will lift a limit of 16 people at rented properties. It said the cap was prompted by health concerns before vaccines against Covid-19 were available.

The firm referred to "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. It continued: "Removing this cap is meant to allow those Hosts to responsibly utilise the space in their homes while still complying with our ban on disruptive parties."