NEW ORLEANS — Airbnb announced Monday it's making moves in New Orleans to enforce a ban on parties at short term rentals listed on the company's app and website, an effort to prevent further community spread of COVID.
Last week, nearly 80 listings across New Orleans have been suspended from the Airbnb platform, a release said on Monday.
Chloe Myshel Burke, New Orleans public policy manager for Airbnb, said recent COVID spikes in Louisiana had a hand in the decisions.
"It’s critical that we all do our part to reduce the number of large gatherings and parties during the pandemic,” Burke said. “We hope that sharing out these steps today will bring greater awareness to our 24/7 neighbor support line and help strengthen the enforcement of our ban on parties in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana."
Most of New Orleans' Airbnb hosts have been working with the company to keep people from gathering in large numbers to party, establishing clear rules, quiet hours and telling guests that parties weren't allowed before they check-in.
Some Airbnb hosts in New Orleans were previously warned and have violated company policy. The company has also restricted entire home listings to people younger than 25.
"As a practical example, if we identify a 20-year old guest who is located in New Orleans, our systems are set up to restrict that user from booking a house, apartment or other entire home listing in New Orleans for a 1-night reservation the following weekend unless they have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb," the release said. "However, if that same 20-year-old is booking a stay to visit family in Baton Rouge, the restriction would not apply."
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