One of the biggest threats to short-term rental investors is that their guests will throw ragers, ticking off neighbors and drawing negative attention from the city or state.
Worse, parties at these rented properties have at times spilled over into deadly violence.
From noise monitoring technology that notifies short-term rental guests they’re being too loud to policies that prevent people with histories of negative reviews, companies are doubling down on ways to prevent that next Fourth of July party from getting out of hand. Airbnb, Vacasa and Your.Rentals are among the companies to recently unveil policies and technology designed to block raucous parties before they start this summer.
Airbnb announced it was doubling down on its “strict anti-party measures.” It’s a continuation of past measures the company has taken to prevent raucous parties that occasionally turn violent.
“We’re building on this success and re-instituting these strict anti-party measures for the 4th of July 2022,” the company said.
Guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb won’t be allowed to make one-night reservations in entire home listings. There will also be restrictions placed on people looking for two-night reservations locally or at the last minute if they don’t have a history of positive reviews.
“Our anti-party system and policy allows exceptions on these bookings for those who have a history of positive reviews and have earned that trust through Airbnb,” the company said in a statement. “We also understand that the simple fact of not yet having reviews does not mean that a guest is trying to throw a party — this is a trade-off we are willing to make in the interest of trust and safety.”
The policies proved difficult to enforce in the past, with numerous parties spilling over to violence since the policies were put in place. But Airbnb says there are signs that its actions around holidays have led to a “substantial decrease” in reports of parties.
Airbnb and Vrbo have previously announced coordination to screen for guests and hosts who have a history of problematic parties at properties booked on either platform.
It shows that the short-term rental companies are turning to both policies and technology to keep guests in line.
Vacasa this year announced that all of the 35,000 homes on its short-term renting platform would get noise-monitoring technology installed.
Your.Rentals, a company offering software for short-term rental investors to manage their properties, announced it was adding a new noise-monitoring system to the platform with the goal of preventing parties.
“Minut and Your.Rentals will work together to keep your properties comfortable, safe and party-free at all times,” the companies said in a statement unveiling the partnership. “You can stop worrying about potential damage and your neighbors can enjoy peace.”
Minut, a Swedish tech company that monitors noise, occupancy and temperature in short-term rental properties, says the system has been shown to quickly resolve issues in most cases.
“When it detects noise, Minut can automatically text and/or call guests on your behalf,” Minut said when announcing the new partnership last week. “In 94% of cases, just one timely reminder is enough to solve the problem.”
