Airbnb is prepping to launch 'anti-party' measures in cities like Phoenix

With New Years’ Eve and its associated all-night festivities around the corner, Airbnb recently announced it’s deploying "anti-party" measures to keep the peace in neighborhoods with short-term rentals.

Airbnb’s Public Policy Lead Caitlin O’Neill says they jokingly call themselves "proud party poopers," but the four-year-old ban has also been installed for holidays like Memorial Day, Halloween or the Fourth of July.

“Since we've implemented this new technology, we've actually seen a 50% decrease in parties on the platform,” said O’Neill.

She said the company works with local governments and people that live near rentals to gather feedback often, emphasizing that while disruptive parties are rare thanks to measures like a 24-hour neighbor support line, reports are still taken seriously.

“Last year, over New Year's, we deployed similar defenses that blocked about 1,000 people across Arizona from completing bookings that might be potentially disruptive,” O’Neill said.

According to O’Neill, part of their strategy leverages a form of artificial intelligence to identify risk factors for a booking that’s likely intent on hosting a disruptive party.

“Some examples might be a guest who's looking to book a really short stay. Maybe it's, you know, just one or two nights,” said O’Neill. “They're booking it at the very last minute. Or maybe they're booking it really close by to where they actually live. Those would be flagged to us, and our tech would notice and prevent the booking from being made entirely.”

O’Neill said offering hosts free devices like in-home sound sensors has also been a huge help in preventing disruptive parties before they get started in earnest.