Airbnb moves to block renters holding anti-social parties

Airbnb is piloting new tools which it claims may identify and block prospective renters who want to stage anti-social parties.

The technology has already been tested for some months in Australia and is now being piloted in North America. 

It analyses a prospective rent’s history of past renting on the short lets platform, how far from home they want to rent, whether they're renting for a weekday or weekend, and other factors.

In Australia the technology has prevented an estimated 35 per cent of requests for what the platform calls “unauthorised parties” from even reaching the hosts.

There is no announcement yet from Airbnb about the technology being used in the UK, but the platform typically trials such innovations in some parts of the world before making them universal.

In June this year the platform said its so-called ‘party ban’ - introduced in 2020 at the height of the pandemic - was to be permanent.

It claims that there’s been a 63 per cent drop in reports of parties in Airbnb host homes in the UK since the temporary ban, with worldwide reports of parties at listed properties having dropped 44 per cent and over 6,600 guests suspended last year for staging parties in contravention of rules.

Meanwhile over the summer an MP introduced a Private Member’s Bill into Parliament which, if successful, would reduce what she calls the “nightmare” of Airbnb party houses.

Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, says the number of Airbnbs in York is rising, with many rented out as "party houses" and the issue increasingly moving to the suburbs and rural areas as well as the city centre.

Maskell says there are some 2,000 Airbnbs in her constituency, and she has told fellow MPs: "In the city centre, we often find family streets where there are five or six Airbnbs and it is having a serious impact."

She has told local media in York that in one cul-de-sac there is a house advertised on Airbnb as being for 30 people.