Airbnb Makes Party Ban Permanent

Airbnb announced on Tuesday that they made a temporary ban on all party and event listings permanent following two years of the ban proving to be effective since August of 2020. This includes open-invite gatherings and "disruptive parties and events."

“I think that is terrific,” Kathy Baird, a co-founder and president of Nantucket Together, said of the decision. “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to have their house trashed by a bunch of partygoers, and I can’t imagine why anyone would do that to a home, but I know people do.”

Baird said she had an experience in the past where a guest showed up before they were supposed to check in.

“I went over to the house to check on a few things and their bags were already in the house, there were all of these party items that were in the house as well, and so I called her up and said you aren’t staying here,” Baird said. “She didn’t argue. I am guessing that was what was going to happen and we managed to stop them.”

Airbnb identified situations such as this one in their release announcing this decision.

“We believe the neighborhoods and communities in which we operate are as important as the hosts and guests who use our service,” Airbnb said. “We know that the overwhelming majority of our hosts share their homes responsibly, just as the overwhelming majority of guests are responsible and treat their listings and neighborhoods as if they were their own. In turn, we focus on trying to deter the very rare cases of hosts who do not operate responsibly, or guests who try to throw unauthorized parties.”

In late 2019 Airbnb began to tighten regulations to address homes that had become “chronic party houses” following a deadly shooting at one of their rentals in California that left five people dead, as reported here by CNBC. In 2020, they implemented a global ban to stop people who were taking their partying behavior to rented homes through Airbnb after bars and restaurants had closed due to the pandemic.

“This was concerning to us due to both the disruptive nature of unauthorized parties and the risk of such gatherings spreading the virus,” Airbnb added.

Airbnb said there has been a 44 percent year-over-year drop in party reports since this ban was put into effect. In 2021, over 6,600 guests were banned from using Airbnb after failed attempts to violate their ban.