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Photo: DADO RUVIC / REUTERS
The popular vacation rental platform Airbnb is introducing a permanent party ban.
The company initially temporarily banned celebrations and parties during the corona pandemic, among other things to prevent violations of lockdown rules in various countries.
The measure was apparently accompanied by a sharp drop in complaints about illegal gatherings: Since the introduction of the ban, reports of illegal parties have fallen by 44 percent, the San Francisco-based company said (click here for the press release).
At the same time, however, Airbnb also announced that it would lift the last restriction on the size of the mediated objects.
The main thing is the 16-person limit.
In the future, it should again be possible to rent and book larger apartments on the platform.
Category »event-friendly« deleted
The background to the ban was the outbreak of the corona pandemic, which led to the closure of many bars and clubs or the restriction of opening times and guest capacities.
This in turn led to parties moving to rented apartments.
Therefore, in August 2020, the party ban was announced "in the best interest of public health".
In the course of this, the company revised its offer: The category "event-friendly" was removed from advertised properties, as was the clause in the house rules according to which "parties and events are allowed".
According to the company, more than 6,600 guests and some hosts were blocked from the platform last year alone for violating the party ban.
The company recently benefited from the easing of pandemic conditions and the renewed wave of travel.
Airbnb's revenue rose a whopping 70 percent to $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
beb/Reuters