SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, December 21, Airbnb suspended and removed 65 “party houses” in the Bay Area, including those in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. The houses, Airbnb indicated have been removed after multiple complaints and policy violations.
Due to restrictions that are a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as California’s regional stay-at-home order, big gatherings are currently forbidden in the state.
The news comes more than a year after the company announced a ban on unauthorized parties following a deadly shooting in Orinda, a San Francisco suburb, on October 31, 2019 that resulted in five deaths.
After announcing the ban, Airbnb said the company’s “goal with this new policy is address the small number of guests who act irresponsibly and those rare hosts whose homes become persistent neighborhood nuisances,” according to a press release from December 5, 2019.
In August 2020, the company indicated in a news relesae that until further notice, there will be “a global ban on all parties and events at Airbnb listings, including a cap on occupancy at 16.”
Airbnb’s suspensions and removals of 65 Bay Area properties comes more than a week after Joe Gebbia, one of the company’s co-founders, donated $25 million to two Bay Area organizations to fight homelessness.
Launched in March 2008, Airbnb has 5.6 million active listings globally in more than 220 countries.
