In June, Airbnb announced that its temporary ban on parties due to the pandemic was going to become a codified policy. Now, the company is introducing new anti-party technology in the US and Canada to prevent parties.
The announcement reads:
Today, we’re announcing the introduction of new anti-party tools in the US and Canada to help identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of our platform.
Airbnb’s anti-party technology will look for the history of positive reviews – or lack thereof – length of time the guest has been on Airbnb, length of the trip, distance to the listing, weekend vs. weekday, and more.
The company says it has piloted a similar variation of the system in Australia since October 2021, “where it’s been very effective.” Airbnb says it has seen a 35% drop in incidents of unauthorized parties in the areas of Australia where this pilot has been in effect.
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 will still be able to book a private room (where the Host is more likely to be physically on site) or a hotel room through Airbnb.
Airbnb states that this system is a “more robust and sophisticated version of the ‘under-25” system’ that has been in effect in North America since 2020 and focuses primarily on guests under the age of 25 without positive reviews who are booking locally.
The company is “optimistic that this technology will have a positive impact on the safety of our community and our goal to reduce unauthorized parties.” It’s still unclear whether Airbnb will roll out this technology globally or if it will remain restricted to some regions.
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