San Francisco-based tech company Airbnb is responding to demand to prevent out-of-control parties during holidays like Halloween by rolling out new anti-party tools to help identify potentially high-risk bookings.
The technology company announcement a system this summer that analyzes a user’s positive and negative review history, length of time the guest has used Airbnb, length of trip, distance to listing and weekend booking by compared to the week, as well as other factors that the company did not specify.
These measures are in place to specifically prevent major parties during certain holidays: New Year’s Eve, Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July and Halloween.
Halloween weekend in particular has troubled Airbnb since 2019, when an out-of-control party at an Airbnb in Orinda resulted in the deaths of five people after a shooting.
Airbnb introduced a 2020 ban on all parties and events in Airbnb listings, adding an occupancy cap of 16 people. The company began to address Halloween parties in 2020. This prevented users from booking overnight stays for entire accommodations on Friday and Saturday of Halloween weekend anywhere in the United States or Canada.
In 2021, he introduced other restrictions, such as requiring the user to tick a box during the reservation process that confirms that they understand that violation of this policy may result in deletion of their account as well as legal action.
Last year, in California alone, the company announced that it deterred more than 12,000 people from booking a home over Halloween.
An Airbnb spokesperson told SFGATE that the company officially codified its party ban that it banned or suspended more than 6,000 users worldwide last year for violating its party policy.
“If you have been banned, there is an appeal system,” the spokesperson added.
Airbnb will ban a user with bad reviews from making overnight reservations through the system. For two night bookings, a user with bad reviews attempting to book at a certain location or at the last minute will either be blocked or automatically redirected to listings that are not whole house listings.
All users attempting to book a reservation in an Airbnb listing within their local network during Halloween weekend will first attest to the company that they understand the no-partying rule. The company warns that the user may be subject to legal action if he breaks the rule.
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