- Airbnb has blocked 20,000 “suspicious reservations” over the past year, the Denver Post reported.
- The rental platform announced a “global party ban” last summer to curb the spread of COVID-19.
- It prohibits those under 25 from booking near their home if they don’t have a positive history.
Airbnb has blocked nearly 20,000 ‘suspicious bookings’ in seven US cities over the past year as part of a crackdown on large gatherings, an executive says The Denver Post.
The figures come almost a year after the rental platform announced its global ban on “party houses”.
Ben Breit, global head of trusted communications, said Airbnb has blocked 5,000 reservations over the past year in Phoenix, 4,500 each in Las Vegas and Seattle, 2,600 each in Portland and Denver, 1,800 in Salt Lake City and 1,500 in Albuquerque, per The Post.
“If you’re under 25 and don’t have a history of positive reviews, we won’t allow you to reserve a full listing of homes near you,” Breit said. “The system is actually blocking that reservation. It’s not allowing it to pass.”
It is not known how many reservations have been blocked in other cities.
“What matters most to us is trying to stop any type of disruptive gathering. Open invitation gatherings are a big priority for us, those where the party host doesn’t know everyone who is present,” Breit told the Post. .
The company said it has “high-risk detection systems” that analyze length of stay, property size and guest review history to identify “suspicious” bookings, in a October press release.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said in a series of tweets in November 2019 that the company would ban “party houses” and crack down on unauthorized parties after five people were killed in a shooting in San Francisco.
Last year, Airbnb announced in a Press release a global ban on parties and capped the number of guests in a single rental at 16, citing public health concerns about the spread of COVID-19 – the company has extended the ban until the end of summer 2021 in one can release.
Airbnb first announced a ban on some young adults booking rentals close to where they live in a July 2020 press release, which led to more than 770,000 blocked reservations in the United States and Canada, the company said in october last year.
The lockdown does not apply to young adults booking smaller homes unlikely to host party guests, or rentals in remote areas, Breit told the Post.
The company applied similar rules to adults of all ages over the July 4 weekend – those without a history of positive reviews would not be able to book a one-night stay at Whole Houses anywhere during the holidays, he said in a Press release.
Airbnb did not immediately respond to Insider for comment.
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