Updates to our anti-party crackdown for summer holidays

As summer is rapidly approaching, we continue to build on our commitment to try to stop as many unauthorized parties as possible in the US.

Following the announcement of our global party ban, in 2021 we introduced a new product over July 4 aimed at trying to stop unauthorized parties. Similar initiatives had been previously piloted over Halloween 2020 and New Year’s Eve 2020. The system focuses on blocking certain one-night reservation attempts and redirecting certain two-night reservation attempts for booking guests who do not have a history of positive reviews.

It worked. The fourth of July weekend in 2021 was quiet and we saw a substantial decrease in reports of disruptive and unauthorized parties. Overall, over 126,000 guests without histories of positive reviews were impacted by this anti-party system over the July 4 weekend in 2021.

Therefore, we’re building on this success and re-instituting these strict anti-party measures for the fourth of July weekend in 2022. And for this year, we’re expanding this anti-party system to include Memorial Day weekend for the very first time.

The following criteria will be in place for guests attempting to book reservations over both Memorial Day weekend and July 4 weekend in the US (including Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands):

• For one-night reservations: Guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will be prohibited from making one-night reservations in entire home listings.
• For two-night reservations: As July 4 approaches, we will deploy more stringent restrictions on certain two-night reservation attempts. For example, we will leverage and amplify our technology that restricts certain local or last-minute bookings by guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb.
• Guests who have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb will not be subject to these restrictions.
• We will also be introducing anti-party attestations to guests attempting to make local reservations, in which they must affirmatively attest that they understand that Airbnb bans parties and if they break that rule, they may be subject to legal action from the company.

We do not take these measures lightly. Both Memorial Day and the 4th of July are meaningful weekends that allow our Hosts to facilitate all kinds of responsible travelers including families. This is why our anti-party system and policy allows exceptions on these bookings for those who have a history of positive reviews and have earned that trust through Airbnb. We also understand that the simple fact of not yet having reviews does not mean that a guest is trying to throw a party – this is a trade-off we are willing to make in the interest of trust and safety.

We are also working to raise awareness of our Neighborhood Support Line, which provides a forum for neighbors to flag for Airbnb in real-time if they spot a party in progress at a home that they believe is listed on Airbnb. In these cases, Airbnb’s highly trained Safety team will work to support the neighbor, work with law enforcement where appropriate and take action against the people responsible for the party. The Neighborhood Support Line is accessible at airbnb.com/neighbors and includes a 24/7 hotline in the US.

We will continue working with local law enforcement, neighbors and our community to try to stop unauthorized parties, and we look forward to sharing announcements along these lines in the coming months.