Airbnb (ABNB) -) is turning to artificial intelligence to finally stamp out one of the biggest issues hosts have with the short-term rental platform.
Earlier this year, the company said it had seen a 55% decline in party reports between August 2020 and August 2022.
Related: Major hotel chain plans to rival Airbnb with new home rental platform
In June 2022, Airbnb made the temporary ban it had in place since August 2020, permanent. It suspended over 6,600 guests from the platform in 2021 for trying to violate the ban.
But since the company revamped its entire party-policing operation, and launched its anti-party AI in March — the AI had previously been tested and trained in Australia — more than 320,000 guests have been blocked or redirected from booking on the platform, CNBC reported.
The AI looks for red flags that may indicate a person is looking to rent a home in order to throw a party. These red flags include:
- Age (user under 25)
- User's birthday
- Length of stay
- Listings proximity to user's base (are they renting in the same city in which they live)
- Weekend vs. weekday
- Popularity of location
- Public holiday booking
If the AI suspects something is fishy it will prevent the booking and instead redirect the user to the website of one of its partner hotel companies, according to tech.co.
Prior to this, AirBnb had done seemingly everything — including creating a 24/7 safety hotline, a neighborhood support line and a partnership with rival Vrbo to share information on repeat offenders — to assuage the worries of hosts following a number of high-profile cases where parties held in rental homes turned deadly.
Back in May, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky asked customers to tell him what kinds of changes they’d like to see to the service in the 2023 fall update.
A few customers asked for property verification, and Airbnb’s new update is keen to prevent fraudulent listings. “We firmly believe guests shouldn’t have to worry about whether a listing is fake or isn’t located where it says it is,” the company said in the update.
Get investment guidance from trusted portfolio managers without the management fees. Sign up for Action Alerts PLUS now.
