Airbnb is making sure that rental properties are not going to be used for unauthorized parties.
The short-term rental company had imposed a temporary ban on parties, which became permanent in June, CNN reported.
Originally, Airbnb used the COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason for the ban — to promote social distancing and stop the spread of the coronavirus. CNN reported that during the pandemic, there were many unauthorized parties set up by renters using Airbnb because clubs and bars were closed.
The rules have “developed into a bedrock community policy,” CNN reported.
To help weed out people trying to rent homes for parties, Airbnb has developed a new tool that will “help identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of our platform,” the company said in a statement.
The new system will look at a renter’s reviews, how long they’ve used Airbnb, the length of the rental, the renter’s distance to the listing and if it is a weekend or weekday request.
The tools will be used for entire home bookings. If a person is unable to book an entire home after the tool blocks their reservation, they can still book a single room.
A similar system has been in place in Australia since 2021, where Airbnb said it has seen a 35% drop in unauthorized parties.
It is also similar to the “under-25″ system that Airbnb already uses to evaluate bookings by people under the age of 25 who are local to the rental.
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