Airbnb Cracks Down on Party Houses Following Deadly Shooting (Video)

Airbnb is officially banning “party houses” on its platform after five people were fatally shot at a rental in Orinda, California. 

“Starting today, we are banning ‘party houses’ and we are redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorized parties and get rid of abusive host and guest conduct, including conduct that leads to the terrible events we saw in Orinda," Airbnb CEO and co-founder, Brian Chesky tweeted on Saturday.

Chesky added that the company will begin by expanding its “manual screening of high-risk reservations flagged by our risk detection technology.”

Next, Airbnb will create a dedicated “party house” rapid response team. The company will then take immediate action against “users who violate these enhanced guest policies, including removal.”

Chesky concluded by saying, “We must do better, and we will. This is unacceptable.”

The new team is in response to the deadly shootings, which took place on Halloween night where more than 100 people arrived to an Airbnb rental home in Orinda for a party that had been advertised on social media, The Los Angeles Times reported. The shooting broke out around 11 p.m. local time. According to local law enforcement, three victims were pronounced dead at the scene and two more died at the hospital due to their injuries.

Michael Wang, the owner of the property, told the San Francisco Chronicle he rented his home to a person claiming to be hosting a family reunion. On the night of the event, Wang received a noise complaint and checked his security cameras and discovered an ongoing party and called the police.

“They were on the way to go there to stop them, but before we got there, the neighbor already sent us a message saying there was a shooting,” Wang said. “When we arrived, the police were already there.”

Police have yet to identify any subjects or indicate what may have led to the shooting.