Airbnb plans to ban 'party houses' after Orinda shooting. Now people are asking how

David Oliver | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Airbnb bans ‘party houses’ after 5 die in Halloween party shooting Damage control and new policy enacted by Airbnb after a Halloween party turned into a crime scene in California.

After a Thursday shooting at an Airbnb rental, where five people were killed and several wounded, the home-sharing service's CEO vowed to crack down on "party houses" — though social media users were skeptical, and the definition of such "party houses" remains uncertain..

The company made the announcement after five people were killed and several were wounded in a shooting at a Halloween party at a home rental in Orinda, California, a wealthy San Francisco suburb.

"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," CEO Brian Chesky announced in a series of tweets Saturday.

It wasn't immediately clear how Airbnb would define "party houses." "While in the case of Orinda, while the reservation was booked for 12 people, which might set off Airbnb's risk-assessment technology, how can the system predict that a listing may be used for a party if someone only lists 2 guests under the reservation?" Makarand Mody, an assistant professor of hospitality marketing at Boston University, told USA TODAY.

It's also unclear how Airbnb will go about ensuring "party houses" will remain off its service.

Chesky said the company would be expanding manual screening of high-risk reservations, creating a dedicated “party house” rapid response team and taking immediate action against users who violate guest policies.

"We use predictive analytics and machine learning to instantly evaluate hundreds of signals that help us flag and investigate suspicious activity before it happens," Ben Breit, a spokesperson for Airbnb, told USA TODAY. "For example, we look at the duration of the stay and listing attributes such as the size of the listing amongst hundreds of other factors. We will be complementing this risk scoring technology with increased manual review in an attempt to stop unauthorized parties before they start."

Chesky also said he has directed an Airbnb executive to oversee the rapid response team and initiate a "10-day sprint" to implement the new safety initiatives.

Not all Twitter users responded kindly to Chesky's Twitter thread, including some who pointed out that the party problem is hardly new.

"My wife and I stopped hosting due to @Airbnb's lack of oversight and commitment to us as owners. People have been complaining about parties at Airbnb for years," one user wrote.

I had an eerily similar event happen during a stay at my Airbnb. A single guest needed a place to crash after a "football game" but turned out having a hosted party (70+ people). Cops were called for a stolen gun. I'm thankful the situation didn't end up like Orinda. — Drew ☄ (@drwbie) November 2, 2019

Another user claimed a similar incident occurred at an Airbnb but noted it didn't end in tragedy: "I had an eerily similar event happen during a stay at my Airbnb. A single guest needed a place to crash after a 'football game' but turned out having a hosted party (70+ people). Cops were called for a stolen gun. I'm thankful the situation didn't end up like Orinda."

Given Airbnb's global presence, any type of sweeping change could prove difficult: "Airbnb claims to be devoting additional resources to fight this, but given the sheer scale of Airbnb's listings across the U.S., and the world, this is going to be extremely challenging for the company to enforce," Mody said.

One social media user discussed another problem the platform is facing: host fraud, which Vice reported on in a bombshell piece last week that delved into how hosts can assume fake identities and scam consumers. The FBI is now looking into the article's claims.

"and let’s not forget those who tarnish airbnb super host status by fraud," a user wrote, linking to the Vice piece. "We are working on this as well and I’ll share something out soon. Also unacceptable," Chesky posted in response.

and let’s not forget those who tarnish airbnb super host status by fraud: https://t.co/RYZ2IYMqAk — Alexandre Freire (@freire_da_silva) November 2, 2019

Airbnb is scheduled to make an initial public offering early next year. One Twitter user replied to the thread: "Gotta take fast action before that IPO!" Chesky responded in turn: "The safety of our community is much more important - that’s why we are doing this. We will be remembered for how we conduct ourselves, not how we go public. We will do better."

Airbnb's safety page says it conducts background checks for hosts and guests in the U.S. but concedes "no screening system is perfect." It adds: "Globally we run hosts and guests against regulatory, terrorist, and sanctions watchlists."

This likely won't be the end of Airbnb incidents. "We are still in early stages of figuring out how so many issues around Airbnb and the sharing economy are to be managed — from a social and legal standpoint — that this is unlikely to be the last challenge that Airbnb is going to face in the near future," Mody said.

Contributing: Grace Hauck

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