Airbnb removes 300 New Zealand listings in party house purge

Airbnb removed 300 New Zealand properties from its rental platform this weekend, as it continues its global crackdown on troubled homes.

The website says the decision was made after an update to its policies that included a ban on parties and events from Airbnb listings that took effect in August. So far, the changes have affected bookings for large groups or guests under the age of 25.

Now it is the turn of the hosting reservations to come under scrutiny.

“Our message to everyone who uses Airbnb could not be clearer; bad behavior has no place at Airbnb,” said Derek Nolan, the site’s head of policy for Australia and New Zealand.

With more than 300 listings removed, this represents just under 1 percent of the 37,000 rooms for rent nationwide.

The houses were identified as properties that had caused “repeated nuisance” to the communities. The website introduced a new tool on its neighborhood support page for neighbors to report rebellious parties. This community policing hotline for “police parties” had led to some of the suspensions this weekend, Airbnb said.

Nolan says the vast majority of his platform users – hosts and guests – are “making a positive contribution to surrounding neighborhoods, including supporting jobs and helping to ensure that tourism dollars flow to local businesses.”

This comes a month after a similar problem list purge took place in Australia. The platform announced that it had withdrawn 500 properties from Australia and halted 9,000 “high risk” bookings in October.

The global crackdown on problem users comes as the website announced intentions for an ambitious initial public offering in US markets. In a statement announcing the IPO, Airbnb said that regaining the “trust of the community” would be a major driver of success.