Airbnb is cracking down on New Year's Eve parties in its properties with a series of strict rules.
The new restrictions will see a ban on one-night bookings of entire home listings for guests without a positive account history - or no previous bookings at all - on the platform.
Airbnb is also introducing tighter restrictions for those same guests who try to book two- and three-night reservations, with an emphasis on attempts to book locally.
The restrictions will be in effect over the New Year’s Eve weekend in 11 countries, including the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, the UK, and - new for 2022 - Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Since the ban was brought in in the UK in 2020, it has contributed to a year-over-year drop in rates of party incidents over NYE of roughly 68-percent in the UK, Airbnb estimates.
Last year, approximately 340,000 guests globally were blocked or redirected from attempting to book on Airbnb over NYE, including more than over 34,500 guests in the UK.
The company has estimated how many people were affected by the party ban last year in the UK:
- Bath - Over 600
- Belfast - Over 350
- Brighton - Over 850
- Bristol - Over 650
- Cardiff - Over 350
- Edinburgh - Over 800
- London (Combined Greater London and City of London) - Over 7,800
- York - Over 450
- Glasgow - Over 700
- Manchester - Over 1,350
- Birmingham - Over 750
- Liverpool - Over 400
- Sheffield - Over 200
Naba Banerjee, Director of Trust Product and Operations at Airbnb, said, “Stays take place across the world each night on Airbnb, with the overwhelming majority of guests and hosts being respectful of neighbours and delivering benefits to their local community.
"These proactive defences will help to promote responsible travel and help to prevent rare instances of unwelcome behaviour, and enable Hosts, guests and communities to enjoy their end of year celebrations with added reassurance.”
As well as reservation screenings, Airbnb has introduced a free noise sensor offer for hosts in partnership with property tech company Minut, which detects when the decibel levels gets too high.
It has also expanded its Neighbourhood Support Line for local communities, and its 24-hour safety line for hosts and guests to directly reach our Safety team for support.
The renewed efforts of Airbnb to crack down on parties comes after a number of high profile, out of control bashes.
In 20218 Airbnb guest trashed his rented home, and their neighbour's, when he threw a wild New Year's Eve party, it was reported.
Police were called to the address in Seven Hills, Ohio, at 11pm after complaints of loud noise and cars blocking the street.
They arrived at the address to find hundreds of revellers packed tightly into the property, with officers claiming they saw party goers throwing up, smashing windows and causing property damage.
