Blocked bookings: How Airbnb is cracking down on disruptive holiday parties
DENVER (KDVR) — Plans for a party palace may be on hold for countless Airbnb customers as the short-term rental company announces a major crackdown: no more one- or two-night bookings to throw holiday ragers.
Airbnb is using what it calls “anti-party technology” for the Memorial Day and Fourth of July holidays. It’s a system the company used last year that blocked thousands of people from booking entire home listings nationwide if the company believed they would throw a disruptive party.
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“I bought my first Airbnb property in Denver about six years ago and it’s been a fun adventure, it’s been great,” said Rachel Woodard.
She knows some hosts may not have had the same experience. FOX31 has reported on several short-term home rental parties that took a violent turn.
“I have heard the stories,” said Woodard. “That’s a scary thought for me as a host.”
In an effort to reduce the risk, Airbnb is cracking down on Colorado guests ahead of the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends.
“There’s a lot more demand. Those weekends usually book up pretty far in advance,” said Woodard.
The technology looks at the bookings and identifies if they are higher risks for partiers. The system looks at a range of factors, which include:
The types of listings being booked
The duration of the stay
The distance of the listing to the guest location
Whether the booking is last minute
After analyzing the booking, the technology then determines if the booking should be blocked.
Host says tech ensures sense of safety for owners
“I love that they are using all the technology and all the data that they are collecting from bookings,” said Woodard. “It’s to help owners make sure that our properties stay safe and we don’t ever have any huge expenses around renovating or fixing things that may be broken during a big party.”
In Colorado, Airbnb says approximately 850 guests were deterred from booking an entire home listing over the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends last year. Meanwhile, more than 67,000 people across the country were blocked from booking.
“Wow, that’s a big number. That actually surprises me that it’s so many that were deterred. I think that’s great,” said Woodard. “It makes so much sense that if someone wants to book for one Saturday night and they live a block away that’s probably not going to be a good situation for the owner.”
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Woodard wants guests to understand most hosts are not real estate tycoons. They are simply opening up their homes to travelers.
“I think that I have always been very lucky, and that’s not the case for everybody, so it’s good to know more precautions are put into place to help owners as much as possible,” Woodard said.
She said there are other types of technology hosts can put on their property to monitor noise levels and find out if people are smoking on the property.
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