Airbnb announced new measures to help prevent unauthorized New Year’s Eve parties in Miami and other U.S. cities.
The company said in a press release that they will "continue to draw a hard line on disruptive parties and emphasize safe and responsible travel" during New Year’s weekend.
As part of the new anti-party efforts, Airbnb will implement a ban on certain one-night bookings on New Year’s Eve for "entire home" listings in cities like Miami.
“So the policy is we ban parties,” said Ben Breit, Airbnb’s Director of Trust And Public Safety Communications. “We first began banning parties at the early days of the pandemic.”
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These defenses are in effect for guests without a positive account history, or with no previous bookings at all, the company said. The efforts are designed to complement Airbnb's other party prevention systems and party ban, which were codified earlier this summer.
Airbnb says the new safety measures are taking place over the holiday weekend because some guests might be more inclined to try to throw unauthorized parties to celebrate the new year.
“It’s important to really couple a smart policy with robust enforcement of that police because there’s always going to be folks who try to circumvent,” Breit said.
Created to support both hosts and neighbors, the New Year's Eve anti-partying initiative was first piloted in 2020 in the wake of a growing number of coronavirus cases.
The company estimates that since the initial implementation, there has been "a year-over-year global drop in rates of party incidents over NYE of roughly 56 percent."
Specifically in Miami, Airbnb says that over 1,450 people were deterred by the various anti-party defenses from booking entire home listings last New Year's Eve.
“We love that people travel to Miami through our platform to have that type of fun,” said Breit. “But when it comes to the actual partying, do that in a bar, do that in a club.”
Airbnb encourages Miami neighbors to reach out with any issues at their 24/7 Neighborhood Support Line accessible at Airbnb.com/neighbors.
