Airbnb’s anti-party tech is cracking down on ‘unauthorized’ get togethers

If you were thinking of booking an Airbnb to host a rowdy New Year’s Eve shindig, the company is already one step ahead of you. Airbnb says it’s rolling out anti-party technology worldwide to help prevent “unauthorized and disruptive” get togethers over the holiday.

Airbnb describes its anti-party technology as machine learning tools to identify and block risky bookings. The tech will be rolled out globally, but Airbnb specifically called out the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Puerto Rico, Spain, and New Zealand. It assesses things like trip length, when the reservation is being made, and how far the booking is from your current location.

If a booking is deemed a high risk, guests will either be blocked or redirected to different accommodations. For folks hoping to book an entire home for a short holiday getaway, reservations of one to three nights will also be blocked. Guests booking entire homes will also have to agree to a “mandatory anti-party attestation.”

Airbnb says it blocked 74,000 such bookings last New Year’s Eve, with roughly 33,000 of those coming from the US.

The company’s stance against disruptive parties isn’t new. It started banning “party houses” in 2019 and added tighter restrictions in 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic as a public health measure. Airbnb then decided to permanently ban rowdy parties worldwide in 2022. The decision came after several shootings occurred at parties hosted at Airbnbs, including an incident where two teenagers were killed and eight people wounded at a Pittsburgh rental.