Airbnb, smarting from bad publicity in the past year over unauthorized house parties at its rentals, sometimes involving violence and sometimes breaking pandemic rules, has clamped down on Halloween.
The vacation rental platform is banning one-night stays for October 30 and 31 in the U.S. and Canada to help avoid gatherings that might spread Covid-19. Already-booked reservations that meet the criteria of short notice and rental in their home area will be canceled, with refunds from Airbnb; hosts will still be paid for the bookings.
The new restriction comes on top of last August’s global ban on parties and events at Airbnb rentals; a selection filter that helped identify ‘event-friendly’ venues was removed from the webpage. The company has more Halloween-specific measures in place, including
- Stricter restrictions to two- and three-night reservations that it considers higher risk for parties
- Making guests between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1 acknowledge they are not allowed to host parties and may be banned from future rentals if they do
- Having agents from Airbnb’s neighborhood support line on call during Halloween weekend to help neighbors who report promblems
