Airbnb Bans Select Renters From Booking 1-Night Stays for New Year’s Eve

In an effort to crack down on any potential unauthorized parties, Airbnb has put a two-night minimum on stays around New Year’s Eve.

Effective immediately, some Airbnb users in the U.S., UK, Canada, Mexico, Australia, France, and Spain will be banned from making one-night reservations of entire homes on New Year’s Eve. The users affected will only be those “without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb,” the company announced last week.

Guests may also be blocked from last-minute bookings or reservations within a selected radius.

One-night reservations that have already been made will not be canceled because Airbnb “data has historically shown that one-night New Year’s Eve bookings made prior to now very rarely lead to unauthorized parties.” All guests with bookings for Dec. 31 must now agree that they will not throw any parties in the Airbnbs, or they could be subject to legal action.

Hosts will receive guidance about how to reduce the likelihood of an unauthorized party in their home and Airbnb will have a virtual command center on New Year’s Eve, with trained safety agents on call throughout the night.

Airbnb enacted similar rules over Halloween weekend in the U.S. and Canada, blocking all one-night reservations. Feedback from that weekend prompted Airbnb to allow travelers with a proven history of good behavior to make one-night bookings for New Year’s Eve.

This year, Airbnb has been combatting the spread of COVID-19 at its listings. In August, Airbnb enacted a “global party ban” on all listings, banned users younger than 25 from one-night rentals near their homes and capped maximum occupancy at 16 people. And the home-sharing service has enacted new COVID-19 protocols for cleanings between stays and meetings between hosts and guests.

Cailey Rizzo is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure, currently based in Brooklyn. You can find her on Twitter, on Instagram, or at caileyrizzo.com.