Travel<\/p>\n
30 Jun, 2022 05:35 AM4 minutes to read<\/p>\n
Banning \"problem parties\" and reopening to larger groups is Airbnb wanting to have its cake and eat it. Photo \/ 123RF<\/p>\n
COMMENT:<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Airbnb said it was banning parties for good. In the same instant it lifted the 16-person cap on property rentals, throwing open the doors on some very mixed messaging.<\/p>\n
In a release the online rentals company said it would be making permanent the so-called \"party ban\" it imposed in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The US holiday rentals company began screening for problem bookings, looking for listings advertised on social media or profiling those making reservations a couple of years ago. They claim the largely automated screening process has been working and will be kept in place.<\/p>\n
\"We believe there is a direct correlation between our implementation of the policy in August 2020 and a 44 per cent year-over-year drop in the rate of party reports,\" the release states.<\/p>\n
For its first decade the Silicon Valley-based rentals company was notoriously hands-off.<\/p>\n
An early interview with the company on what they were doing to protect hosts' houses from being used for sex parties and destructive behaviour revealed a cavalier approach to controls.<\/p>\n
\"A lot of this stuff happens, and you just have to deal with it,\" said then head of global hospitality Chip Conley in a now-infamous 2014 interview with Fast Company.<\/p>\n
We're doing what we can to stop orgies happening in your home, okay?<\/p>\n
This changed in 2019 following a deadly shooting at an Airbnb property in Orinda, California, which was being used for a public party.<\/p>\n
\"Historically, we allowed Hosts to use their best judgment and authorise parties when appropriate for their home and neighbourhood,\" says the release. <\/p>\n
The pressures from communities and a global pandemic forced the company to put a pause on party properties in August 2020, issued \"until further notice\".<\/p>\n
The company says it had suspended 6600 accounts connected to \"unauthorised parties\" and \"party houses\" in 2021.<\/p>\n
However, this did not put an immediate end to the problem. In New Zealand, revellers continued to find their way around screening methods.<\/p>\n
In August 2021, a 16-year-old died at a party involving 80 young people in a Christchurch Airbnb. The devastated owners of the Medway Tce property said they had been \"conned\" by a fake profile.<\/p>\n
The company says it will continue to screen suspicious bookings and properties and will be supporting neighbourhoods with a 24-hour phone line. Additional insurance has been made available by the platform to those who are letting properties.<\/p>\n
However, the sheer scale of playing party police is more daunting now than ever.<\/p>\n
As of 2022 there are 5.6 million listings on the website, more than there were pre-pandemic.<\/p>\n
A tech-heavy approach, relying heavily on algorithmic screening of bookings, is very on-brand for Airbnb but will only go so far. One only has to look at other parts of the business to see there will always be a degree of trial and error in the \"tech evangelism\".<\/p>\n
For example, there have been incidents of guests being left out in the cold and without lockbox keycodes after the Airbnb app began screening messages for phone numbers. There's never a perfect solution. Especially on the scale of a company the size of Airbnb.<\/p>\n
But now Airbnb appears to want to have its party cake and eat it.<\/p>\n
While saying the party ban will now be a permanent part of its policy, it also wants to remove all caps on guest numbers. Big bookings for large, speciality properties - castles, condos and private islands - are welcome.<\/p>\n
Soirees, symposiums, get-togethers are all okay - just don't call it a \"party\". No pare la fiesta!<\/p>\n
In the same release, the company said \"plans are still under consideration\" to grant party ban exemptions to hospitality venues.<\/p>\n
Without giving any substantial information as to how they will be implementing this party ban, one presumes it will be much of the same.<\/p>\n
Airbnb has 6000 employees, a number that's spread pretty thinly across what is fast approaching 6 million properties.<\/p>\n
Here's a party plan: How about hiring more local staff in the 200-plus countries served by Airbnb?<\/p>\n
At the moment Airbnb might have assumed the role of global party police but, when things go wrong, it's the hosts and house owners who end up being enforcers.<\/p>\n
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Comment: Airbnb's party ban mixed messages are inviting trouble - New Zealand Herald<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Travel 30 Jun, 2022 05:35 AM4 minutes to read Banning \"problem parties\" and reopening to larger groups is Airbnb wanting to have its cake and eat it. Photo \/ 123RF COMMENT: Yesterday, Airbnb said it was banning parties for good. In the same instant it lifted the 16-person cap on property rentals, throwing open the doors on some very mixed messaging. Continue reading