Image: © nicoletaionescu/Stock.adobe.com
New anti-party tools being introduced in the US and Canada will help Airbnb identify ‘high-risk reservations’.
Less than two months after Airbnb made its party ban permanent, the short-stay rental platform has revealed the anti-party tools and technology it will use to implement the ban.
Airbnb first banned parties on its rental properties in June 2020 to adhere to public health guidelines while lockdowns kept the doors of bars and clubs shut.
While this was a temporary ban, the company made the measure permanent in June after it noted a significant drop in reports of unauthorised parties globally. In Ireland, there was a 49pc annual drop in the rate of party reports since the ban was introduced. This figure was even higher in the UK at 63pc.
Now, Airbnb said it is introducing new anti-party tools in the US and Canada to help identify “potentially high-risk reservations” and prevent those users from taking advantage of the platform.
The technology looks at factors such as the history of positive reviews – or lack thereof – as well as the length of time the guest has been on Airbnb, length of the trip, distance to the listing, whether it is a weekday or a weekend, among others.
A variation of this system has been piloted in Australia since October 2021 and Airbnb has seen a 35pc drop in reports of unauthorised parties in the pilot areas.
“The primary objective is attempting to reduce the ability of bad actors to throw unauthorised parties which negatively impact our hosts, neighbours and the communities we serve,” the company, which boasts more than 4m hosts, wrote in a statement on its website.
When a user does not fit the criteria for a booking, the system will prevent a home reservation attempt from going through. However, they will still be able to book a private or hotel room through Airbnb because of the physical presence of hosts and staff.
Airbnb said the new model builds on the ‘under-25’ system that has been in effect in North America since 2020, which focused primarily on guests under the age of 25 without positive reviews attempting to book locally.
“We anticipate that this new system will help prevent more bad actors on our platform while having less of a blunt impact on guests who are not trying to throw a party,” the San Francisco-based company went on.
“While we are consistently willing to make trade-offs in the interests of building trust, our goal is to make these systems as precise and fair as possible to support our hosts and guests.”
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
