Airbnb and Vrbo are cracking down on ‘party houses’
Vacation rental giants Airbnb and Vrbo are cracking down on properties that frequently host raucous parties, the companies said Friday.
The companies are co-developing a “community integrity program” to identify problem properties — and share the information with each other, they said in a release.
“The information will be available for each company to take the appropriate action,” according to the companies, which said they’ll work through a “trusted third-party intermediary” to identify properties that have been permanently banned from each platform.
It wasn’t immediately clear if a ban on one platform automatically means the same fate on the other. The Post has reached out to the companies.
When Airbnb boots a certain property — such as the Brooklyn rental where an alleged gang member was fatally shot at a party this month, for example — Vrbo, which is owned by Expedia, will be notified of the ban, and vice versa.
![Airbnb logo](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/party-house-crackdown-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
The companies encouraged other vacation rental platforms to join the program, arguing that banning problem properties is much less effective if their owners can simply turn to other platforms.
“While rare, disruptive parties can meaningfully impact the community’s quality of life,” the companies said. “Neither Airbnb nor Vrbo have tolerance for this type of irresponsible activity.”
Airbnb, which went public in December and is currently valued at about $89 billion, imposed a ban on all parties at properties listed on its platform in August of last year.
![Vrbo logo](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/party-house-crackdown-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
The company said 73 percent of its rentals had already banned parties.
In May, the company extended the ban through at least this summer despite rising vaccination rates across the globe. It also banned US guests who do not have a history of positive reviews from booking one-night full-home rentals during the weekend of July 4th.
In March, three people were reportedly shot at a party in an illegally rented home on Long Island. Police said the house had been rented on Airbnb, but the company denied that it was responsible for the property at the time of the shooting.