Airbnb and Vrbo are working together to target banned ‘party houses’
Vacation rental giants Airbnb and Vrbo are cracking down on properties that frequently host raucous parties, the companies said Friday.
The companies are co-developing a “community integrity
program” to identify problem properties — and share the information with each
other, they said in a release.
“The information will be available for each company to take
the appropriate action,” according to the companies, which said they’ll work
through a “trusted third-party intermediary” to identify properties that have
been permanently banned from each platform.
It wasn’t immediately clear if a ban on one platform
automatically means the same fate on the other. The Post has reached out to the
companies.
When Airbnb boots a certain property — such as the Brooklyn
rental where an alleged gang member was fatally shot at a party this month, for
example — Vrbo, which is owned by Expedia, will be notified of the ban, and
vice versa.
The companies encouraged other vacation rental platforms to
join the program, arguing that banning problem properties is much less
effective if their owners can simply turn to other platforms.
“While rare, disruptive parties can meaningfully impact the
community’s quality of life,” the companies said. “Neither Airbnb nor Vrbo have
tolerance for this type of irresponsible activity.”
Airbnb, which went public in December and is currently
valued at about $89 billion, imposed a ban on all parties at properties listed
on its platform in August of last year.
The company said 73 percent of its rentals had already
banned parties.
In May, the company extended the ban through at least this
summer despite rising vaccination rates across the globe. It also banned US
guests who do not have a history of positive reviews from booking one-night
full-home rentals during the weekend of July 4th.
In March, three people were reportedly shot at a party in an
illegally rented home on Long Island. Police said the house had been rented on
Airbnb, but the company denied that it was responsible for the property at the
time of the shooting.
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