New anti-party technology successfully cracks down on unauthorised parties

A similar version of innovative new anti-party technology piloted by Airbnb in Australia will be rolled out to the US and Canada after unauthorised party incidents dropped by an estimated 35 percent during the world-first Aussie trial.

Airbnb can today reveal that this new risk-scoring technology, aimed at stopping unauthorised parties in their tracks, was piloted in Australia starting in October 2021 and will now have a long-term place in the company’s anti-party arsenal in Australia.

These anti-party tools help identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of our platform. For example, this system looks at factors like history of positive reviews (or lack of positive reviews), length of time the guest has been on Airbnb, length of the trip, distance to the listing, weekend vs. weekday, among many others. The primary objective is attempting to reduce the ability of wrongdoers to throw unauthorised parties which negatively impact our Hosts, neighbours, and the communities we serve.

This anti-party technology is designed to prevent a reservation attempt from going through. Guests who are unable to make entire home bookings due to this system are still able to book a private room (where the Host is more likely to be physically on site) or a hotel room through Airbnb. 

This system has been piloted in Australia since October 2021, where it’s been very effective. Airbnb has seen a 35 percent drop in incidents of unauthorised parties in the areas of Australia where this pilot has been in effect. The pilot phase is now ending in Australia and codifying this product nationwide.

In June, we announced that our previously temporary ban on parties would become a codified policy. And we continue to work to enforce that policy by taking measures to try to stop unauthorised parties before they start in the first place.

“Our work to try and stop as many unauthorised parties as possible remains one of our top trust priorities,” said Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand. 

“This is integral to our commitment to our Host community – who respect their neighbours and want no part of the property damage and other issues that came with unauthorised or disruptive parties.

“We also continue to work collaboratively with governments across the nation to help ensure travel is a positive experience for everyone, and that communities can share in the benefits of tourism.”

Reservations that score high enough in the system outlined today will be “redirected.” This means they may be deterred from booking a local, entire-home listing, but they’d still be allowed to book a private room (where the Host is more likely to be physically on site) or a hotel room through Airbnb. 

While we are optimistic that this technology will continue to have a positive impact for the safety of our community and our goal to reduce unauthorised parties — 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. That’s why we continually seek to partner with experts and communities to complement their safety efforts, and we continue to invest in our Neighbourhood Support Line to facilitate direct communication with neighbours regarding potential parties in progress or concerns with any nearby listings.