Airbnb blocking some rentals over Halloween to prevent parties
04 October, 2020
Airbnb will prohibit one-night rentals over Halloween weekend within its ongoing effort to crack down on party houses.
The action, announced Friday (Oct 2), comes almost a year after a deadly shooting at an Airbnb in Orinda, California. Five people were killed in the shooting, which happened during an unauthorised Halloween party.
San Francisco-based Airbnb said it will ban one-night rentals of entire homes in the US and Canada on Oct 30 or Oct 31. Previously booked one-night rentals will be canceled and Airbnb will offer you refunds.
Airbnb said it will look more closely at two- and three-night reservations during Halloween. A guest may be denied, for example, if indeed they try to book a whole home near their own home throughout that period plus they don’t have a brief history of reviews that are positive on Airbnb.
Airbnb has taken a number of steps to crack down on parties since last year’s shooting. Last November, it started manually reviewing US and Canadian reservations to weed out suspicious rentals.
The business's efforts have intensified as it prepares for an initial public stock offering, that could come later this year.
In July, the company banned US and Canadian guests under age 25 with less than three reviews that are positive from booking entire homes close to their current address. That policy was later expanded to the uk, Spain and France. And in August, Airbnb banned parties worldwide and limited occupancy at its rentals to 16 people.
Airbnb in addition has warned guests and hosts that it could take legal action against violators. In August, for the very first time, it started legal proceedings against a guest who held an unauthorised house party in Sacramento, California.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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