Airbnb is battling house parties and properties in properties named on its platform to try to better meet the social distance requirements of local health departments for large gatherings, the company said in a blog post Thursday. It implies an occupation of 16 people, and hosts as tenants on the platform who try to evade the new rules risk being banned from the platform or even the possibility of legal action.
With local health departments responding to coronavirus cases in their areas, many restrictions on the number of people allowed in bars and restaurants were implemented. Airbnb said it found people taking “behavior and club behavior” to rent homes on its platform.
“We think such behavior is irresponsible – we do not want that kind of business, and anyone who engages in it or does not allow it to behave does not belong on our platform,” Airbnb said in its post Thursday. The company says that while some of its hosting properties allow small gatherings such as birthday parties or baby showers, 73 percent of its ads already ban parties.
The ban is in effect indefinitely and applies to all future bookings. It comes the day after Airbnb filed a confidential IPO.
Earlier this year, Airbnb updated its policy amid the coronavirus pandemic, removing its “event-friendly” search filter and its “parties and events allowed” option from its list of house rules. It banned ‘party houses’ last year after a fatal shooting during a big Halloween party at a rental in California. Five people died in the shooting, and new reports said there were more than 100 people in the house at the time.
Airbnb has made other updates to its policy in light of the coronavirus pandemic, including flexibility in its booking costs and an “improved cleaning initiative” that went into effect in May and includes a 24-hour vacancy period between bookings. Also in May, the company fired about a quarter of its employees, or about 1,900 people, with mass cancellations of noon bookings of stay-at-home orders. CEO Brian Chesky said at the time that its 2020 revenue is expected to be half of last year. “Airbnb’s business has been hit hard,” he wrote in a note to employees.
