Airbnb Announces Global Party Ban

Today we’re announcing a global ban on all parties and events at Airbnb listings, including a cap on occupancy at 16. This party ban applies to all future bookings on Airbnb and it will remain in effect indefinitely until further notice.

How we got here

Unauthorized parties have always been prohibited at Airbnb listings. In fact 73 percent of our listings globally already ban parties in their House Rules, and the vast majority of our guests behave in manners that show respect for House Rules and for neighbors. We’ve historically allowed hosts to use their best judgment and authorize small parties – such as baby showers or birthday parties – if they’re appropriate for their home and their neighborhood.

Last year, we began imposing much stricter limits – starting with a global ban on “party houses” – meaning, listings that create persistent neighborhood nuisance. We also launched a 24/7 neighborhood support hotline in the U.S. and Canada – with plans for global expansion – to communicate directly with neighbors and help us effectively enforce the party house ban. This complemented new initiatives to stop unauthorized parties – such as manual review of high-risk reservations, as well as restrictions on allowing guests under the age of 25 without a history of positive reviews to book entire home listings locally.

When the pandemic was declared, and social distancing became an important element in promoting public health and responsible travel, we updated our policies. We started by removing both the “event-friendly” search filter from our platform as well as “parties and events allowed” House Rules from any event-friendly listings. Most importantly, we introduced a new policy requiring all users to adhere to local COVID-19 public health mandates. At the time, most local governments were imposing strict limits on gatherings, which effectively created a form-fitting, patchwork ban on parties and events.

However, in many large jurisdictions, public health mandates on gatherings have changed – and in some places swung back and forth in response to the changing rates of COVID cases – as have regulations on bars, clubs and pubs. Some have chosen to take bar and club behavior to homes, sometimes rented through our platform. We think such conduct is incredibly irresponsible – we do not want that type of business, and anyone engaged in or allowing that behavior does not belong on our platform.

Based on these developments, instituting a global ban on parties and events is in the best interest of public health.

Here’s how the ban will work

  • Parties are now prohibited on all future bookings
  • Occupancy at Airbnb listings will be capped at 16 people. This is primarily relevant to larger homes that we previously allowed to list as able to accommodate 16+ people.
  • We are currently scoping a potential exception process for specialty and traditional hospitality venues (i.e. boutique hotels)
  • Guests will be informed about Airbnb’s party rules and informed that they may be legally pursued by Airbnb if they violate our policy. This work is currently being operationalized and will be rolled out in the near future.

Here’s what’s next

We are currently in the process of communicating this new policy to our global community. We are partners with our hosts on this important issue and we both feel the pain when an unauthorized party occurs during an Airbnb reservation. We believe having a simpler, global policy will allow us to better support the vast majority of hosts who already ban parties in their homes.

We acknowledge that there will always be those who attempt to break the rules. This is why we’ve implemented steep consequences for hosts or guests who try to skirt them – including bans from our community and even legal action.

We also understand that 16 is not a magic number, and issues can occur with groups of any size. To be clear, we are not sanctioning smaller gatherings with this policy and all community members are expected to comply with local health restrictions on gatherings. We are capping guests at 16 in these large properties as one step amongst several, all designed to mitigate any efforts to misuse an Airbnb for a party. We will continue to enforce our party rules against groups of any size and will be taking action both on guests and listings if we receive reports from neighbors.

Read more about: Com

6 Likes

That’s Good…

I’m glad to see the cap at 16. My area has a Covid 19 restriction of 10 people. Different areas have different limits.

Several rentals in my area advertise accommodating 20. Rentals to a large group continued although local limit 10. Grandma & Grandpa Rented for a vacation with the adult children and grandchildren.

I understand it but it feels risky with so many people under one roof who don’t ordinarily live together

1 Like

The same thing has happened here that happens in so many circumstances. The misbehavior of some has ruined things for many. A few years ago an airbnb host cooperated with us to hold a lovely, small memorial service at her lakeside listing. We had more than twenty. This was not a somber, dreary event, but a time of storytelling and laughter. We left the place spotless and got a fine review.

3 Likes

I wonder how that is going to effect listings that allow 16 and advertise as a “wedding venue.” I have a competitor across the street from my farm who lists her tiny farm for that, and just this week added pictures from her guests’ weddings there…

1 Like

All of this instead of just letting hosts collect and control a deposit in the amount of their choosing and then holding Airbnb guests to the same identity requirements as any other hotel or event space.

edit to add: I guess, at least it’s keeping some people employed, lol.

6 Likes

Well that’s a lie. I’ve read that when people try to call, it’s just as bad service as the rest of CS. What’s the point of calling about a party in full swing if you get put on hold for 3 hours or told someone will get back to you and never do?

1 Like

what are you thoughts on houfy.com where you can do exactly that ?

Houfy eliminates 99% of the problems of the platforms we complain about. It also eliminates 99% of the paying guests.

4 Likes

Hi Brian, Can you explain what you mean? Is that because no guests use that platform or because the guests don’t pay, or…?

You can search the forum for them. I can’t go through it all again :wink:

And I only need a real deposit and real ID for LTR and that’s easy to accomplish. I was speaking more to Airbnb working harder to solve a problem that’s already solved everywhere else.

Yes, that’s what I meant. Not “no guests” but very few compared to the top OTAs (Airbnb, VRBO, and booking-dot-com). I’d actually be surprised if Houfy has 0.5% of the market.

Edit: I’m not saying there’s’ anything wrong with Houfy, BTW. I’m just saying that whatever problems you have with the top OTAs aren’t going to get fixed by using Houfy if you simply can’t get any bookings through Houfy. Maybe that will change over time, just don’t bet your business on it.

2 Likes

Gotcha. Thanks. Learning a lot here.

Its worst than that I have have received complaints about one of my properties and AirBnB take about a week to pass on the complaint. They then refuse to pass on the number of my security firm to ensure the neighbour complaining can get swift response to any issues as a guaranteed 5 minute response team is paid for to look after the property. This team is just dreadful and should be removed or replaced as at the moment they just cause neighbour issues. This incidentally is with a small property not a party house.

Why can’t you share the number of your security team with your listing’s neighbours? @

3 Likes

In May and June we got dozens of complaints from the neighbours about parties and noise we almost had to remove 2 of our listings indefinitely due to the issues… I did my research then though and found that there are noise monitoring devices that help with party prevention. I compared Noiseaware and Minut and eventually went for Minut (more features and nicer design) and now my team can respond within minutes (pun not intended…) whenever it gets too loud and no noise complaints since! There are some costs involved… but it’s much better than losing my listings or dealing with upset neighbours! It might help you too :smiley:

What immediately stands out to me is the part about " restrictions on allowing guests under the age of 25". I am quite a lot older than that but can probably party harder and louder than they can. :crazy_face:

5 Likes

Yo también! Let’s face it, we’ve been doing for longer, therefore are far more experienced.

:wine_glass:

JF

4 Likes

If you’re in the US or in another country that has out-of-control Covid-19 cases, I’m not at all surprised that Airbnb shut down your listing. Gatherings are known to be dangerous and are illegal in some areas. Even if they’re not illegal, they are known to be the way that Covid-19 spreads.

It’s unfortunate for your business—and for other businesses that rely on crowds and gatherings—but all of that has to stop if we’re ever going to get this pandemic under control.

5 Likes

My city with a high case rate announced new restrictions a few days ago. One is a vague “no house gatherings.” I don’t even know what that means but I do know there have been plenty of gatherings. The city was even issuing waivers so the power in town could still do what they wanted.

It’s frustrating how predictable it all is. I thought governments were supposed to protect our lives, that it was the most basic function of government but I guess not. Things like football, biker rallies and even protests are more important.

2 Likes