In the ongoing battle of the pandemic to reduce the number of parties in short term rentals the next salvo has been fired. Airbnb has taken the unprecedented step of blocking one night bookings on October 30th and 31st in order to lower the potential for parties on Halloween. The implications and potential restrictions for the industry could be immense. As Property Managers know Airbnb has been marching down the path of finding ways to limit parties since last year, escalating moves from limiting the search to look for party houses, raising the minimum age of guests making a reservation to 25, establishing a hotline for complaints from neighbors and communities, and recently going as far as suspending more than 1,000 properties around the world. However, in March the increased restrictions in response to the CoronaVirus slowed or even completely stopped the rollout of some of these safety precautions, making this Halloween potentially very unsafe.
Party Squasher has been working with hosts and managers to help solve this party problem for a long time. Responsible Property Managers have gotten in front of this problem with the help of Party Squasher. Managers are less at risk because they know how many people are at a property at any given time and are made aware of the problem before the party gets out of hand. While this new effort by Airbnb is another step in the right direction, the simple application of Party Squasher technology greatly mitigates the issue. Unless we figure out better ways to stop large gatherings in the middle of a pandemic, the restrictions that put this industry, our industry, at risk will continue to tighten.
Stay safe this Halloween and protect your property with Party Squasher!
