Airbnb announced Friday that it is blocking one-night house rentals during Halloween in an effort to stop large parties.
The company’s announcement comes almost a year after five people were killed at a Halloween house party in Orinda, California, the Associated Press reported. Airbnb will prohibit one-night rentals on Oct. 30-31 and will refund renters who already booked rooms.
The rental company said it will also review longer rentals around Halloween made by renters who live nearby the property, according to AP. This is reportedly part of a larger effort to sniff out parties as Airbnb prepares for its initial public stock offering later in 2020. It also follows an Aug. 20 ban of parties with more than 16 people at rental sites. (RELATED: Brown University Researcher Demands Airbnb Refund Over Trump Signs)
Airbnb to prohibit some rentals over Halloween weekend to halt parties https://t.co/I3L8Gc3w7w
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) October 2, 2020
“To be clear, we are not sanctioning smaller gatherings with this policy and all community members are expected to comply with local health restrictions on gatherings. We are capping guests at 16 in these large properties as one step amongst several, all designed to mitigate any efforts to misuse an Airbnb for a party,” an Aug. 20 company statement said.
Airbnb said that it could pursue legal action against people found violating its policies.
“We acknowledge that there will always be those who attempt to break the rules. This is why we’ve implemented steep consequences for hosts or guests who try to skirt them – including bans from our community and even legal action,” the statement continued.