UK: Airbnb has announced that it is planning a crackdown on New Year’s Eve parties to protect hosts and minimise neighbourhood disruption around the world.
The plan is underpinned by a ban on one-night NYE bookings in entire home listings for guests without a history of positive reviews.
Airbnb first piloted the policies and restrictions last year for New Year’s Eve, at which time 243,000 guests were blocked in their attempts to book a short-term rental for the end of the year, including more than 18,000 individuals in the UK. This included 5000 in London, 350 in Edinburgh, 290 in Bristol, 280 in Brighton, 230 in Bath, 160 in Glasgow and 150 in Cardiff.
As of today, the following criteria will be in place for guests attempting to book New Year’s Eve reservations in the UK, US [including Puerto Rico], Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, France and Spain:
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For one-night reservations: Guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will be prohibited from making one-night reservations in entire home listings.
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For two-night reservations: As New Year’s Eve approaches, Airbnb will deploy more stringent restrictions on two-night reservations that may pose heightened risk for disruptive parties.
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Guests who have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will not be subject to the restrictions.
Amanda Cupples, general manager for Northern Europe at Airbnb, said: “There are thousands of stays taking place across the UK each night with the overwhelming majority of guests being respectful of neighbours and delivering benefits to the local community. These additional proactive safety measures will help to block reservations that we know from experience can pose a slightly higher risk, and help to ensure hosts, their guests and communities can enjoy their end of year celebrations with added reassurance.”
It follows the introduction of a series of measures by Airbnb to crack down on anti-social behaviour through its platform.
Last August, following a fatal shooting incident at a property the previous year in Orinda, near San Francisco, Airbnb implemented a worldwide ban on parties and set up a 24/7 hotline for locals to report unlawful activity.
Meanwhile, a separate pilot programme prevented under-25s in the UK, France and Spain from renting entire homes after successful trials in the USA and Canada. According to Airbnb, the restriction blocked or redirected reservation attempts from nearly 375,000 people in the UK.
Airbnb’s drive to promote trust and safety across its platform has also been evident in its removal or suspension of 1,000+ listings or ‘party houses’ in the UK, the deployment of high-risk reservation technology to combat parties and other neighbourhood disturbances before they start [including a pilot with property monitoring company Minut in Prague], and the launch of a Neighbour Support Line and safe hosting guide for the UK Host community with Crimestoppers, as well as the establishment of a UK Trust and Safety Alliance which works closely with Airbnb in the UK to provide information and guidance to hosts and guests.
However, efforts to promote this have also been undermined somewhat by the revelations in June that Airbnb had been spending approximately $50 million a year to keep serious incidents in its rentals out of the press through the use of a “black box” team.
