Airbnb makes global party ban permanent, critics call it unenforceable

Airbnb is making permanent its ban on parties at homes listed on the site, saying the move has reduced neighbourhood complaints. But critics say the policy is hard to enforce, and doesn’t go far enough.

“Now is the time,” says company spokesperson Matt McNama. “We really want to ensure the community is safe.”

The company first introduced a ban on parties in August 2020. McNama said reports of parties at Canadian listings have dropped 47 per cent compared to a year ago. However, the director of Fairbnb Canada, a coalition of groups advocating for further regulation of the accommodation platform, says the ban doesn’t work.

“It’s just a headline that they throw out there before civic holidays,” said Thorben Wieditz, director of Fairbnb Canada. “They want to limit bad headlines that usually come after these holidays because terrible incidents take place and we all hear about them and know about them.”

Airbnb began to crack down on parties in 2019 after a fatal shooting at a party in a house in California. At that time, the company prohibited advertising parties at Airbnb locations on social media. In Canada, there have been incidents of stabbings, shootings and disruptive parties taking place at AirBnb properties.

More than 6,600 guests were suspended last year for related violations, Airbnb said. The number of parties at Airbnb locations increased during the pandemic, the company added, as people moved gatherings from bars and clubs to rented homes. That led to the temporary ban in 2020.

While making the ban permanent, Airbnb said it will lift a limit of 16 people at rented properties. It said the cap was prompted by health concerns before vaccines against COVID-19 were available. McNama also noted that multi-generational families with more than 16 members shouldn’t automatically be prevented from booking a home.

“There’s no way that Airbnb can enforce it,” said Wieditz about the ban on parties. “You and I, we could rent a property at a beach resort or a residential community. We book it, and we’ll let people in, and how is Airbnb going to know? Unless you are a principal resident that lives on site, or that really vets the guests.”

Airbnb hosts have always had the option of declining bookings at their properties, be it for a party or other reasons. With the ban, McNama says that if after confirming a booking, a host suspects their property will be used for a party, they can contact Airbnb to have the booking cancelled.

If a guest does throw a party at an Airbnb home – McNama said they could be temporarily or permanently banned from the site. Neighbours fed up with a noisy bash can also contact Airbnb directly through its neighbourhood support line, he added. “We would escalate that immediately.”

“The host community that we work with is very much in support of this,” McNama noted. “This comes from our guests as well. They want to ensure that they’re booking great places.”

However, it is hands-off hosts, Wieditz said, who can be the source of the problem.

“People on the platform who have multiple properties – in some cases hundreds of properties – those absentee landlords are the bread-and-butter of AirBnB’s revenue model, and it’s very very difficult to actually ensure that they don’t allow parties to take place on their properties,” he explained.

Fairbnb is advocating that hosts only be allowed to rent out their principal residences. Toronto has limited short-term rentals by hosts who don’t actually live at the properties, however critics have identified some loopholes in the policy. Wieditz said that limiting rentals to a host’s actual home gives them an incentive to ensure the property isn’t used for a party.

“I’m very critical,” he said “I don’t believe that what they are trying to do actually works.”