Airbnb cracks down on ‘party houses’ in Bradenton Beach
Airbnb has suspended at least one house in Bradenton Beach from being listed on its website as part of a statewide crackdown on “party houses.”
Airbnb in late 2019 banned party houses, but concerns about large gatherings on the properties have been heightened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company announced on Thursday that it was suspending some 40 properties in a dozen Florida counties, including Manatee. A spokesman did not disclose how many properties in Manatee were suspended but did say they were all in Bradenton Beach.
“The Manatee County suspensions are in Bradenton Beach and the listings that have been suspended will only be allowed back on our platform if they’ve taken steps to ensure their listings do not violate our rules,” a spokesman said in an email.
The suspensions do not stop a property owner from renting their properties, but do stop them from listing on Airbnb.
“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,” said Viviana Jordan, Airbnb manager of public policy in Florida in a prepared statement. “By sharing these steps today, 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.”
Airbnb said the vast majority of the people who use Airbnb to rent their properties follow the rules.
“Our actions today address the small minority of hosts who have previously received warnings about hosting responsibly or have otherwise violated our policy,” the company said.
As part of the policies initiated last year, Airbnb created a 24/7 hotline at 855-635-7754 to report complaints. The company, with more than 7 million global listings, also launched an automated “high-risk screening” system that flags reservations based on a number of circumstances related to the reservation.
The other Florida counties with suspended properties are Alachua, Broward, Duval, Lake, Lee, Miami-Dade, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, St. Johns and Walton.