NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It’s easy to find a party most days of the week in Music City, but locals often worry that the party will leave the bars and end up in their neighborhoods as short-term rentals increase in popularity.
Ahead of the holiday weekend and the summer, Airbnb is doubling down on their efforts to keep all loud parties out of their properties.
“We ban parties; we don’t want parties occurring in properties that are listed on Airbnb,” said Ben Breit, Airbnb director of trust and safety communications. “Hosts don’t want parties either. Neighbors certainly don’t want parties, elected officials…nobody wants parties, except for, you know, a couple of people who want to throw the party.”
Breit said they now flag bookings that seem suspicious and decline their bookings. In particular, the company looks for last-minute bookings, guests only staying one or two nights, guests with few to no positive reviews, or people booking stays near their primary residence.
“We first piloted this for Memorial Day last year and we saw a positive impact. Party reports went down specifically in Nashville. About 80 people who tried to make bookings along those lines were not able to,” Breit said.
Airbnb also said they are seeing a general uptick in people listing their homes on the platform. Due to Nashville’s short-term-rental ordinances, all permitted locations are listed on the city’s website.
However, if an Airbnb guest is not being a good neighbor, Breit encourages people to call Airbnb’s 24/7 neighborhood support line. The city also has resources and a number residents can call if there are issues with a short term rental property.