SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Airbnb found over 65 ‘party houses’ on its platform around the Bay Area, violating policies that were set even before the pandemic.
While large gatherings are illegal in California due to stay-at-home orders, the company had already banned users worldwide from reserving a space to host a party back in Dec. 2019.
Airbnb banned “open-invite” party reservations to “address the small number of guests who act irresponsibly and those rare hosts whose homes become persistent neighborhood nuisances.”
Large parties are also not allowed for listings in apartments or condos, where multiple families may share one building.
“Everyone in the Bay Area has a role to play in reducing the number of large gatherings and parties, and that includes Airbnb,” said Matt Middlebrook, Airbnb Regional Policy Lead. “By sharing out our actions today, we hope to raise awareness of our 24/7 neighbor support line which helps to bolster the enforcement of our global party ban.”
The listings found in violation of policies specifically were in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
In the middle of the pandemic, Airbnb also introduced another policy to further sift out unauthorized parties:
- U.S. guests under the age of 25 with less than three positive reviews are not able to book entire home listings that are close to where they live.
- All guests under the age of 25 are still free to book private rooms and hotel rooms through Airbnb, regardless of where they live.
- Younger guests with at least three positive reviews and no negative reviews on Airbnb or with long-term plans are not subject to this restriction.
The company said removing the reported listings on Monday “address the small minority of hosts who have previously received warnings about hosting responsibly or have otherwise violated our policies.”