Airbnb is rolling out 'anti-party' technology across Australia more than a month after permanently banning parties at its listings.
The company banned parties back in August 2020, when COVID-19 lockdowns meant places such as pubs and nightclubs were closed, prompting some to move their partying to venues such as holiday rentals.
Airbnb officially made the party ban permanent at the end of June.
Now the company is rolling out systems designed to weed out people who look like they're trying to throw "unauthorised parties".
What is 'anti-party' technology?
In a statement on the company's website, Airbnb said it was introducing anti-party tools in the US and Canada that aimed to "identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of our platform".
This looks at:
- a user's history of positive reviews (or lack of positive reviews)
- the length of time they've been been on Airbnb
- the length of their trip
- a user's proximity to the listing
- whether it's a weekend versus weekday booking.
Airbnb said similar systems were trialled in some parts of Australia since October 2021.
It's not clear which areas of Australia were part of the trial, but Airbnb said the pilot was "very effective".
The company said it saw a 35 per cent drop in unauthorised parties in the parts of Australia where the system was being trialled.
"We are now ending the pilot phase in Australia and codifying this product nationwide," Airbnb's statement said.
Will this stop parties altogether?
Airbnb said the company was "optimistic" this would reduce unauthorised parties, but "we want to be clear that no system is perfect".
"We work hard to deter bad actors from using our platform but, ultimately, Airbnb is an online platform that facilitates real-world connections," the company said.
Does that mean people caught by the system can't book anything?
No.
People who can't make a booking for an entire home will still be able to book a hotel room or a private room "where the host is more likely to be physically on site", Airbnb said.
What does Airbnb count as a party?
When we asked Airbnb for a definition of party back when it permanently banned parties from its listings, a spokesperson said:
"A diverse array of signals are used to determine violations of our party ban.
"These include factors like whether there has been an open-invite, excessive noise, excessive trash, excessive visitors, parking that impacts neighbours, and more."
Can hosts allow parties if they want to?
No, most hosts can't.
"Hosts who … allow guests to throw parties may be subject to account consequences up to, and including, the removal of their listing," Airbnb's Parties and Events Policy page, says.
But the policy has different rules for "traditional hospitality venues" like boutique hotels.
