Airbnb began testing a feature to prevent parties at rental properties in Australia in October last year and has now begun testing it in the United States and Canada, hoping to further reduce the use of rental properties for large parties through data.
Because many users have rented entire houses through Airbnb in the past to hold large parties, causing damage to the houses owned by landlords or facing complaints from neighbors, Airbnb has been trying to use data to reduce the problem of users renting houses under the pretext of using them as party venues.
Airbnb's approach primarily targets users with bad records or suspicious rental behavior, and alerts landlords to these issues so they can assess whether to rent out their listings. Users restricted from renting entire properties by Airbnb can still rent a room within a specific listing based on their actual needs, so their actual use remains unaffected.
According to Airbnb, after testing this policy in Australia last October, the number of parties renting out properties in the test areas decreased by 10%. The current policy further restricts entire properties to users under 35. Besides restricting rentals to users over 25, users must also have at least three positive reviews before they can rent an entire property through Airbnb.
Airbnb said it is still continuing to use new methods to reduce the abuse of its services and avoid affecting the rights of users with real needs.
