While it’s all about candy and chocolate for kids, Halloween is certainly a party holiday for adults.
Airbnb is once again making efforts to prevent those parties from unexpectedly happening in homes rented through their platform.
The company says it is “deploying advanced anti-party technology” across Canada to try and reduce the risk of an unwanted bash happening in a rental unit.
“These anti-party defenses use machine learning to help prevent potentially higher-risk bookings of entire home listings from being made,” a statement from Airbnb explains.
“Guests attempting to book will either be blocked from doing so, or redirected to alternative accommodations on the platform.”
Airbnb already has a global ban on unauthorized parties, but extra defenses are needed around a party-centric holiday like Halloween.
According to the company, these defenses deterred around 6,300 people in Canada from booking a year ago, resulting in “a reduction in the number of parties reported over the holiday.”
Airbnb is also warning against people using parents, grandparents or other adults to try and skirt the rules and book a house to party in.
Third-party bookings are prohibited, the company says, and breaking these rules can lead to a suspension or ban from the platform.
While Airbnb is stepping up its security around Halloween, the company notes that its anti-party technology has been working since introducing the party ban policy in 2020.
Airbnb claims that there’s been a 57% decrease in the rate of party reports in British Columbia since the ban went into place in 2020 and only 0.03% of 2024 reservations resulted in a party allegation.
