World enews: Airbnb permanently bans house parties from all listings

Airbnb has placed a permanent ban on all parties and events from occurring in its listings globally, after temporarily banning house parties in 2020 due to social distancing regulations from the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, the homeshare company announced it will codify the plan as its official policy, after the temporary ban had effectively decreased the rate of unathourised party reports by 44 per cent.

“When the pandemic hit, as many bars and clubs closed or restricted their occupancy, we began to see some people taking partying behavior to rented homes, including through Airbnb,” the company said in a statement. “This was concerning to us due to both the disruptive nature of unauthorised parties and the risk of such gatherings spreading the virus. As such, we announced the party ban to our community as being ‘in the best interest of public health.’”

“Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure. It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbours,” they said.

The ban prohibits disruptive events, open-invite gatherings shared on social media, and “party house” properties from occurring in Airbnb listings. It said the consequences for violating the policy varied from account suspension to full removal from the platform. In 2021, more than 6,600 guests were suspended from Airbnb for attempting to violate the party ban.

The updated policy will also remove a 16-person occupancy cap on Airbnb listings, which was temporarily placed due to the pandemic prior to the introduction of vaccines.

“Amazing properties like these thrive on hosting multi-generational family trips and larger groups, and removing this cap is meant to allow those Hosts to responsibly utilize the space in their homes while still complying with our ban on disruptive parties,” the company said.

The use of hidden cameras is also against Airbnb’s community standards, however a number of videos have recently gone viral of guests finding cameras hidden throughout rental properties. In order to spot hidden cameras and eavesdropping devices, look for tiny holes, shine a flashlight to reflect a camera lens, check the mirror, and scan for webcams.