If you were planning on throwing a New Year's Eve party at a rented Airbnb property around the United States, you're going to have to find a different way to ring in 2021. In fact, Airbnb just announced that it will ban customers around the country from making one-night reservations of entire homes on December 31 in an effort to—duh—combat the spread of COVID-19.
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The ruling specifically applies to those "without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb" and also involves properties in Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The good news is that, if you've already secured a one-night reservation, Airbnb will not cancel it. Why? According to the company's own statement, "data has historically shown that one-night New Year's Eve bookings made prior to now very rarely lead to unauthorized parties." That being said, all those already set-up with a home will have to sign a waiver agreeing not to throw any unauthorized parties or face legal action.
Fair warning, though: last-minute bookings and reservations within certain radiuses may also be blocked at one point.
The company also announced the operation of a virtual command center "to get ahead of any issues, along with trained safety agents on call throughout New Year's Eve" and the release of host guidelines that will help them prevent the occurrence of unauthorized parties.
This isn't the first effort of its kind that Airbnb has enacted while trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across its bookable offerings. Over Halloween weekend, the company set forth the same policy concerning one-night-only reservations. According to the press release, "this initiative went successfully." Here's to hoping that everyone will be just as responsible come 2021.
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