Airbnb has banned all parties from all of its properties indefinitely.
The holiday lettings company has decided to make permanent a temporary ban on bashes which was introduced in 2020.
Since the measure was put in place during the pandemic, there has been a 49% drop in party reports in Ireland and 63% drop in the UK in Airbnb properties.
The company is making the move in order to keep people living close to Airbnb rentals as happy as possible, and not impacted by noise from partying holidaymakers.
There have been countless cases of parties in Airbnbs going wrong, including a 2019 horror show when a one-day rental in Orinda, California, turned into a hundred-person party and a shooting that killed five.
Last year families were left horrified as more than a hundred partygoers descended on an Airbnb in a sleepy village for an illegal all-night rave in Kent.
"At Airbnb, we believe the neighbourhoods and communities in which we operate are as important as the Hosts and guests who use our service," a spokesperson for Airbnb said.
"We know that the overwhelming majority of our Hosts share their homes responsibly, just as the overwhelming majority of guests are responsible and treat their Airbnb listings and neighbourhoods as if they were their own.
"In turn, we focus on trying to deter the very rare cases of Hosts who do not operate responsibly, or guests who try to throw unauthorised parties."
Before the decision hosts were allowed to decide whether they would authorise parties in their properties.
Open invite bashes that were advertised on social media and full-time party houses that turned into neighbourhood nuisances were banned in 2019.
At the same time the company launched a neighbourhood support line for people to directly complain about properties.
"When the pandemic hit, as many bars and clubs closed or restricted their occupancy, we began to see some people taking partying behaviour to rented homes, including through Airbnb," the spokesperson continued.
"This was concerning to us due to both the disruptive nature of unauthorised parties and the risk of such gatherings spreading the virus.
"As such, we announced the party ban to our community as being “in the best interest of public health.”
"Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure. It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbours."
Airbnb says there is a direct correlation between the implementation of the policy in August 2020 and a 44% year-over-year drop in the rate of party reports globally, a 49% drop in reports in Ireland and 63% drop in the UK.
The temporary party ban policy announced in summer 2020 included a 16-person occupancy cap, which was prompted primarily by Covid concerns around large gatherings prior to the introduction of vaccines.
As part of the updated policy this cap will be removed, so long as the property is capable of comfortable housing more than that number.
In 2021, over 6,600 guests were suspended from Airbnb for attempting to violate the party ban.
