Airbnb acts in Puerto Rico against disruptive summer holiday parties
The platform will apply booking restrictions and has trained police on request tools ahead of Memorial Day and Fourth of July.
Airbnb will again activate its antiparty technology for Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends, continuing efforts to reduce the risk of unauthorized gatherings in short-term rentals.
This marks the fourth consecutive year the company is implementing booking restrictions during high-demand summer holidays. The measures aim to block reservations that may present a higher risk for disruptive parties, which are banned on the platform.
“Although incidents of disruptive parties on Airbnb are rare, we are committed to working to reduce the risk and helping hosts promote positive experiences in their homes and local neighborhoods,” the company said in a statement.
The platform’s proprietary system flags certain one- or two-night bookings at entire-home listings that meet criteria associated with party risk. Factors considered include listing type, trip duration, booking proximity to the guest’s residence and whether the reservation is made on short notice.
Guests blocked from booking an entire home during these periods may still reserve other types of accommodations on the platform.
Last year, Airbnb said its antiparty defenses prevented approximately 51,500 individuals from making high-risk bookings over the two summer holidays. That included roughly 560 people in Puerto Rico, 7,750 in Texas and 7,400 in Florida.
The measures are part of a broader system that includes year-round reservation screening tools. Airbnb noted that its global screening system uses machine learning to identify and deter high-risk bookings.
“These measures have continued to help hosts protect their homes and neighbors’ peace of mind,” the company said.
Since Airbnb introduced a global party ban in 2020, the company has reported a more than 50% decline in party-related incidents in the mainland U.S. In 2024, fewer than 0.06% of reservations in the country resulted in a party report, it stated.
The company also announced it has begun training members of the Puerto Rico Police Department in the use of its Police Authorities Communication Portal, a tool for submitting legal information requests to the platform.
