Airbnb prevents hundreds of high-risk bookings in recent months

Airbnb’s high-risk reservation screening system – which helps stop parties before they start – continues to aim to give communities across Australia added peace of mind. The platform today announced that the system has prevented more than 580 bookings from occurring since its national rollout last August. 

These cancelled bookings were the result of Airbnb team members dedicating thousands of hours to reviewing reservations flagged for review by the system during that time.

The 580-plus prevented bookings are on top of the more than 1400 high-risk reservations stopped in their tracks as part of a previous two-year pilot in Melbourne. 

Derek Nolan, Airbnb’s Head of Public Policy for Australia, said: “Our message to anyone using our platform remains clear; there is no place for bad behaviour on Airbnb. We enforce strict policies and community standards, and those who willingly fail to adhere to them face consequences such as removal from our platform.

“Our high-risk reservation screening system is one of many measures we’ve invested in to support our ongoing crack down on parties and other disturbances.

“Since its national rollout last August, this system has allowed us to identify and prevent more than 580 bookings – that’s on top of more than 1400 prevented reservations during a previous two-year pilot in Melbourne. 

“While no system is perfect and able to prevent issues 100% of the time, this measure aims to give hosts and local communities further peace of mind.

“We continue to work collaboratively with police and government so the whole community can enjoy the benefits of sustainable tourism. While safety incidents are extremely rare on Airbnb, our team continues to work diligently every day to make them even rarer.”

The high-risk reservation screening system involves the screening of reservations flagged by our automated systems using a number of factors, including duration of the stay and listing attributes such as the size of the listing.

Airbnb also recently took action against more than 400 listings across Australia. These listings were suspended or removed from the platform for violating Airbnb policies on parties and events or for having received multiple serious complaints.

Airbnb also recently implemented additional measures to help give communities peace of mind on New Year’s Eve, which included imposing enhanced booking restrictions for that night.
On the extremely rare occasions where incidents do occur, Airbnb stands ready in those instances to assist eligible hosts with our Host Guarantee and Host Protection Insurance.