BRADENTON BEACH – Airbnb has announced a crackdown on “party houses” throughout Florida that includes suspending Airbnb listings for an unknown number of vacation rentals in Bradenton Beach.
“As a part of this effort, over 40 listings across the state that have received complaints or otherwise violated our policies on parties and events have been suspended from the Airbnb platform. This follows Airbnb’s policy change to ban parties at Airbnb listings globally until further notice,” according to a press release received from Airbnb spokesperson Laura Rillos on Friday.
“The vast majority of hosts in Florida contribute positively to their neighborhoods and economy, and they also take important steps to prevent unauthorized parties – like establishing clear house rules, quiet hours, and communicating in advance with their guests. Our actions today address the small minority of hosts who have previously received warnings about hosting responsibly or have otherwise violated our policies,” the press release states.
“The actions were communicated to the hosts over the past week, and the suspensions were spread throughout the following counties across the state: Alachua, Broward, Duval, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, St. Johns and Walton,” according to the press release. “We cannot provide addresses for the suspended listings out of respect for the privacy of the hosts and homeowners,” the press release notes.
When contacted Friday, Rillos confirmed that all the Manatee County suspensions occurred in Bradenton Beach.
Airbnb actions
The listing suspensions are part of Airbnb’s ongoing efforts to lessen the negative impacts Airbnb rentals have on their neighbors, according to the company.
“Today we’re announcing a global ban on all parties and events at Airbnb listings, including a cap on occupancy at 16. This party ban applies to all future bookings on Airbnb and it will remain in effect indefinitely until further notice,” says an Aug. 20 press release posted at the Airbnb website.
“We’ve historically allowed hosts to use their best judgment and authorize small parties such as baby showers or birthday parties if they’re appropriate for their home and their neighborhood. Last year, we began imposing much stricter limits, starting with a global ban on ‘party houses’ – listings that create persistent neighborhood nuisance,” the press release says.
“We also launched a 24/7 neighborhood support hotline to communicate directly with neighbors and help us effectively enforce the party house ban. The hotline is staffed with trained agents so that neighbors can reach us directly with their concerns. Issues raised by Floridians through this hotline led directly to many of the listing suspensions announced today,” the Aug. 20 press release says.
Airbnb complaints and concerns can be reported to Airbnb’s neighborhood support team by calling 855-635-7754. Complaints can also be initiated online at www.airbnb.com/neighbors.
Regarding these recent actions, the Aug. 20 press release says, “This complemented new initiatives to stop unauthorized parties, as well as restrictions on allowing guests under the age of 25 without a history of positive reviews to book entire home listings locally. When the pandemic was declared, and social distancing became an important element in promoting public health and responsible travel, we updated our policies. We started by removing both the ‘event-friendly’ search filter from our platform as well as ‘parties and events allowed’ house rules from any event-friendly listings. Most importantly, we introduced a new policy requiring all users to adhere to local COVID-19 public health mandates.”
In the press release, Viviana Jordan, Airbnb manager of public policy in Florida, said, “It’s critical that we take steps to reduce the number of large parties and events and we support the efforts of local officials to put a stop to irresponsible behavior. We hope to raise greater awareness of our 24/7 neighbor hotline so that we can continue to strengthen the enforcement of our party ban across the state of Florida.”
