Airbnb announced that they will ban New Year’s Eve parties. Airbnb saw a 40% jump in their bookings last Thanksgiving compared to Thanksgiving in 2019. The number of bookings is one of the reasons why the company announced that it is going to ban New Year’s Eve parties.
Airbnb spokesperson Liz Fusco said that “I think certainly this holiday season is probably one of the first times in well over a year and a half at this point that many have been able to reunite with family and friends, and many people have been looking to travel in order to do so”
She added that “If people are looking to gather, we want them to do so responsibly”. Fusco explained that Airbnb wants to “send a message to would-be partyers that Airbnb bans parties” in the US on New Year’s Eve.
To prevent these incidents, Airbnb doesn’t allow guests with no positive reviews to make one-night reservations in its entire home listings on New Year’s Eve. Also, the platform will restrict local and last-minute bookings for two or three-night stays for those users who don’t have a positive review on Airbnb.
Fusco said that this is something that they are doing for their host community. Also, the platform will not restrict guests that have positive reviews on Airbnb.
Fusco said that “We will not tolerate parties on our platform and if you’re thinking about booking a listing in order to have a party, think again because that’s not something that is allowed on Airbnb”.
Airbnb Partners with Vrbo to Stop Parties
Airbnb partners with Vrbo to add another layer of protection for their hosts. The competitors are sharing information “in an effort to address chronic offenders”. This move benefits hosts that list properties on both platforms.
According to a spokesperson for Expedia Group, “it remains up to each company to decide what action to take with respect to the listing on their own platform”.
