Airbnb in Texas: an anti-party system prevents partygoers from booking

DALLAS — Airbnb last year rolled out new “anti-party” software to stop people booking short stays and then holding a rager.

Turns out a lot of people in Texas found out.

Airbnb officials said Monday that 6,700 people were deterred by the company’s anti-party systems from booking homes in Texas over Halloween weekend last year.

Airbnb revealed the nugget in a press release about the upcoming Halloween weekend, as it plans to continue its crackdown on customers booking homes just to party.

Airbnb plans to “take action on certain local bookings made by guests with no history of positive reviews,” as part of anti-party efforts.

The company said unauthorized parties dropped 37% in the United States and Canada last Halloween due to anti-party software. Airbnb says party reports have dropped 46% in Texas since 2020.

Here’s how it works, depending on Airbnb’s version.

• For one night reservations — Travelers without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will be prohibited from making one-night reservations in entire listings.
• For reservations of two nights — Customers attempting to book whole home listings with no positive review history, in a certain location and/or last minute bookings will be redirected to listings that are not full home listings or completely blocked.
• Travelers who have already received positive reviews on Airbnb will not be subject to these restrictions.
• For all guests attempt to make local reservations over Halloween weekend, they must affirmatively certify that they understand that Airbnb prohibits parties and if they violate this rule, they may be subject to legal action by the part of the company (see example below).

The party’s crackdown on Airbnb comes as Fort Worth and Dallas have been mulling regulations for short-term rentals, like Airbnb and VRBO, and the Plano City Council also planned to discuss the issue at a meeting of the advice on Monday.

Arlington in 2019 banned short-term rentals in all areas except a limited area near city sports venues and Six Flags Over Texas.