Airbnb clarifies house party crackdown and bans some large gatherings

House parties that occur in Airbnb rentals can be a big problem for both communities and homeowners, prompting the company to ban these parties altogether. As part of his safety directives given last month, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky detailed a new method the company will use to help stop these parties before they happen. In an update on the matter today, Airbnb clarified its house party ban and specifically which gatherings are prohibited.

As the company first said in early November, Airbnb plans to roll out a new system on December 15 that will involve the manual screening of what it considers high-risk reservations first flagged by the company's detection model. This feature was first tested in pilots and will soon expand to cover all of North America. The global rollout of this new evaluation protocol will start next year.

In its update today, Airbnb has addressed some questions and concerns related to this plan, stating that authorized house parties and events are still allowed on the platform...the key, though, is that they must be authorized. Airbnb says that it is effectively banning all open-invite parties and events from its platform. Only event venues and hotels are given an exception to this rule.

The company says it will be watching for any complaints about these types of gatherings and will dole out punishments to any host that skirts the rules. As well, Airbnb says it is also banning big events and parties from taking place at multi-family residences offered through its platform. This includes buildings like condominiums and apartments.

The goal is to prevent these types of gatherings from disrupting the neighborhood and nearby neighbors. Hosts who own single-family homes are still allowed to authorize these types of events, but Airbnb stresses that it will take action if it receives complaints from the community regarding parties that happened at a rental on its platform. Of course, all unauthorized parties remain banned regardless of where they take place.