Airbnb bans one-night New Year’s Eve bookings to reinforce no parties rule

The rule change follows a successful trial last year

The move only affects guests without a positive account history or with no previous bookings (AFP via Getty Images)

Airbnb has announced a new tightening of rules around the festive period, to prevent “disruptive parties”. Following a successful trial last year, the site is banning one-night bookings for certain guests on New Year’s Eve in 11 countries.

The change means those without a positive account history or with no previous bookings won’t be allowed to book a single night’s stay on 31 December.

The move follows Airbnb implementing a temporary ban on all parties and events in listings globally in August 2020, which was then deemed successful and made a permanent rule from June 2022.

Airbnb says: “We’re also introducing tighter restrictions for those same guests who try to book two- and three-night reservations, with an emphasis on attempts to book locally.”

The restrictions are to take effect over the New Year weekend in countries including the US (as well as Puerto Rico), Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, the UK, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands.

While the rules were trialled in eight of these countries last year, 2022 sees the addition of the latter three listed.

Airbnb figures show that during last year’s trial, “approximately 340,000 guests globally were blocked or redirected from attempting to book on Airbnb over NYE, including more than over 34,500 guests in the UK.”

Director of trust product and operations at Airbnb, Naba Banerjee, said: “Stays take place across the world each night on Airbnb, with the overwhelming majority of guests and hosts being respectful of neighbours and delivering benefits to their local community.”

“These proactive defences will help to promote responsible travel and help to prevent rare instances of unwelcome behaviour, and enable hosts, guests and communities to enjoy their end of year celebrations with added reassurance,” Ms Banerjee added.

Airbnb saw a 44 per cent drop in reports of parties after introducing the temporary party ban in August 2020, and continued success with last year’s New Year’s Eve trial.

“We estimate that the measures have contributed to a year-over-year drop in rates of party incidents over NYE of roughly 68-percent in the UK,” said Airbnb in a statement.