Airbnb launches ‘anti-party’ technology to identify potential rule-breakers

By Innocent Obasi

Airbnb, a short-term rental company, is tightening its anti-party stance by introducing additional screening techniques in the United States and Canada after permanently banning parties and events on all of its listings in June.

The company’s “anti-party” technology uses an algorithm to identify potential rule-breakers by examining indicators including the history of positive reviews, how long the user has been on the platform, length of the trip, distance to the listing, and weekday versus weekend booking, The Bharat Express News reported on Wednesday.

The technology is intended to stop bookings that might develop into unauthorized parties, TBEN quoted Airbnb to have said. For instance, it will make it more challenging for guests to organize a party without authorization by preventing possible rule-breakers from booking a full house and instead giving them the choice to reserve a single room on listings where hosts are physically present on the site. This new technology is an extended version of the company’s under-25 system, which prohibits individuals under the age of 25 with less than three positive reviews from booking whole properties.

Airbnb said that it has been successfully testing the party-preventing algorithm in Australia since last year with positive results.

“A similar variation of this system has been piloted in Australia since October 2021, where it’s been very effective,” Airbnb wrote in a blog post. “We have seen a 35% drop in incidents of unauthorized parties in the areas of Australia where this pilot has been in effect.”

After numerous fatalities occurred at various parties held at Airbnb properties in 2019, the company banned party houses (properties that were just listed to host events) and established a neighbourhood helpline for reporting loud and disorderly gatherings. In August 2020, the company implemented an indefinite no-party policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Velma Corcoran, manager of Airbnb in South Africa, in a 2018 report by Reuters, said that South Africa constitutes the bulk of Airbnb business, followed by Morocco, Kenya and Egypt.

In order to remove impediments to becoming a tourist entrepreneur and to aid in the reconstruction of a more equitable and robust domestic tourism sector, Airbnb last year announced a three-year commitment to South Africa. The commitment focuses on infrastructure, training, and investment and builds Airbnb’s 2017 $1 million commitment in Africa to support community-led tourism projects and the Africa Academy, which has trained more than 300 hosts.

As part of this commitment, Airbnb announced its collaboration with the University of Johannesburg School of Tourism and Hospitality to enroll at least 1,000 students into the Airbnb Academy programme over the next three years.