Prior to this, Airbnb had prohibited “open-invite” parties as well as “chronic party houses” back in 2019, as a measure to prevent such instances from potentially becoming neighbourhood nuisances. A temporary full-fledged ban was then enforced in the following year in order to comply with social distancing restrictions that were imposed during the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure,” the company wrote. “It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbours.” Since then, Airbnb says that the rate of party reports have dropped down to 44%, and the ban itself has been well received by its own Host community, community leaders, as well as elected officials. The company notes that it decided to have this policy codified permanently to continue building on this momentum. Hosts or guests violating the newly established rules will be subject to “serious consequences”, Airbnb added. These include account suspension to full removal from its platform, with over 6,600 guests already suspended in 2021 alone for attempting to violate its party ban. Meanwhile, Airbnb also announced in the same blog post that the 16-person occupancy cap that was instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic will be lifted, but only for larger properties (ie: castles, large beachfront villas, etc) that are listed under its new Categories feature that was introduced in May. This would allow hosts of such properties to responsibly utilise the space in their homes to fulfil group-based bookings while, of course, still complying with the company’s ban on disruptive parties. (Source: Airbnb [official blog])
