Airbnb reinforce campaign to stop parties in holiday rental properties

The holiday rental giant, Airbnb, announced yesterday that they are striving to halt parties in holiday homes over the summer. The strategy was first launched in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, and they are now consolidating it with measures to support hosts, local neighbours, and complex communities.

They have also announced that they are reversing the 16-person occupancy limit introduced in 2020, based on feedback from hosts. "The removal of this limit is intended to allow those hosts to responsibly use the space in their homes while complying with Airbnb's ban on uncivil parties," the company said in a press release.

They have pointed out that there are penalties for hosts who attempt to violate these policies, ranging from account suspension to complete removal from the Airbnb site. In 2021, more than 6,600 guests worldwide were suspended for attempting to violate the party ban.

Since the penalties were introduced, party complaints have fallen globally by 44% in a year, and they have also opened a neighbour support line at www.airbnb.es/neighbors so that members of the public can speak directly to company representatives if they have concerns or complaints about a rented holiday home near them.

This is welcome news for many residents across the Canary Islands, who have had complaints about misuse of these properties in residential areas fall on deaf ears. They have complained to the police of all-night parties, loud music, verbal abuse, damage to their property, and blatant drug use, without anything seeming to happen to combat it.

New measures to prevent holiday scams:
Airbnb have also announced they are focusing on preventing holiday rental scams and fraud this summer. They have been working with the Spanish National Police and online security experts, Confianza Online, to publish a new guide to raise awareness of scams, help fight fraud and keep people safe when booking a holiday online.

Airbnb advises guests not to click on links in emails they don't trust, to avoid unrealistic offers, to pay attention to the details of ads when booking, to only communicate, book, and pay on the platform, and to keep their accounts secure.

"If in doubt, Airbnb's global customer service team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help with any questions and can be reached by phone, through the Help Centre, and on Twitter at @AirbnbHelp," the company said in a statement yesterday.