280 bookings cancelled on NYE last year by Airbnb in Brighton to prevent raucous parties

Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:43

By Katie Lyons - Radio News Hub @katielyons_99

Airbnb is cracking down on raucous New Year’s Eve parties to protect home-owners and local residents.

The accommodation-sharing firm has announced a ban on UK customers making one-night bookings for entire homes on December 31 unless they have a history of positive reviews.

For two-night reservations, Airbnb said it will restrict “certain local and last-minute bookings using technology to detect potential issues”.

The measures will also be used in several other countries, such as France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada.

When tried out for New Year’s Eve in 2020, these steps stopped bookings for 243,000 guests globally, including more than 18,000 in the UK.

Some 5,000 were in London, 350 in Edinburgh, 290 in Bristol, 280 in Brighton, 230 in Bath, 160 in Glasgow and 150 in Cardiff.

Guests who have received a number of positive reviews from previous bookings will not be affected.

Airbnb’s general manager for northern Europe, Amanda Cupples, said: “There are thousands of stays taking place across the UK each night with the overwhelming majority of guests being respectful of neighbours and delivering benefits to the local community.

“These additional proactive safety measures will help to block reservations that we know from experience can pose a slightly higher risk, and help to ensure hosts, their guests and communities can enjoy their end of year celebrations with added reassurance.”

Since August 2020 the firm has prevented bookings by customers aged under 25 attempting to reserve entire homes in their local area if they have fewer than three positive reviews.

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