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As state and local governments begin to loosen COVID-19 restrictions, companies are beginning to roll out changes to their policies in accordance with new safety guidelines. For Airbnb, that means warning its users against throwing unauthorized house parties and gatherings.
"Given the executive orders from Governor Walz, our new policy means we are not allowing any type of party in the Twin Cities until further notice," the company stated in a press release. "We want to be very clear–not only will we ban guests who attempt to throw an unauthorized party in a Twin Cities Airbnb listing, we will be cooperating with police in any investigations relating to parties and violations of public health mandates, consistent with our Terms of Service."
Prior to COVID-19, Airbnb was already struggling financially. According to Bloomberg, the company lost $276.4 million in the last three months of 2019, and $143.7 million the year prior. The app startup, which planned to go public this year, is also giving $250 million to hosts who've lost income because of the coronavirus restrictions on travel and its widespread impact on the industry, after receiving initial criticism from guests and hosts over its cancellation and refund policy amid the global pandemic.
To enforce its new terms, Airbnb is temporarily disabling its “event-friendly” search filter–normally used so that guests can locate rentals for responsible parties that the host allows. Additionally, the company is continuing to remove the "parties and events allowed” house rule from any Twin Cities listings that formerly authorized parties. "And, of course, we maintain our rigorous work to prevent and address unauthorized parties, which have always been forbidden and reflect particularly serious abuses of our rules during this public health crisis."
Additionally, to discourage listings that market escaping COVID-19 with pandemic-related discounts, or promote being well stocked on limited resources like hand sanitizer or toilet paper, the company adjusted its policy around listing titles to that could be interpreted as exploiting the pandemic by prohibiting references to “COVID,” “coronavirus,” or “quarantine."
Globally, the company says that Airbnb hosts have also offered 200,000 places to stay for frontline COVID-19 responders through its Frontline Stays program.
