Gabrielle Russon
Airbnb wants to stop the party.
The home-sharing platform announced it is cracking down on people throwing “unauthorized parties” over the Memorial Day and July 4 holidays this year in the United States.
The website is targeting customers who don’t have a history of good reviews from their past stays and limiting what they’re able to book online during the two summer holidays.
“Guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will be prohibited from making one-night reservations in entire home listings,” the company said in a news release. “As July 4 approaches, we will deploy more stringent restrictions on certain two-night reservation attempts. For example, we will leverage and amplify our technology that restricts certain local or last-minute bookings by guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb. … Guests who have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will not be subject to these restrictions.”
Guests who want to make reservations in the same communities where they live also will have to “affirmatively attest that they understand that Airbnb bans parties and if they break that rule, they may be subject to legal action from the company,” the news release added.
The company acknowledged its anti-party measures could potentially keep some well-intended customers away.
“We also understand that the simple fact of not yet having reviews does not mean that a guest is trying to throw a party — this is a trade-off we are willing to make in the interest of trust and safety,” the company said.
It’s not the first time Airbnb has proactively tried to stop guests from booking residences for a bash.
Airbnb did something similar for past holidays on Halloween and New Year’s Eve in 2020 and the July 4 weekend in 2021.
“The 4th of July weekend in 2021 was quiet and we saw a substantial decrease in reports of disruptive and unauthorized parties. Overall, over 126,000 guests without histories of positive reviews were impacted by this anti-party system over the 4th of July weekend in 2021,” the company said in a news release.
That included more than 1,300 people prevented from booking entire homes in Miami over the July Fourth holiday last year, according to spokesman Haven Thorn.
“We do not take these measures lightly. Both Memorial Day and the 4th of July are meaningful weekends that allow our Hosts to facilitate all kinds of responsible travelers including families,” the company said.
