Airbnb using AI to deter party rentals in Austin ahead of Halloween
The company said its new system, which uses AI and machine learning, is aiming to restrict certain one-night and two-night bookings for entire homes.
Editor’s note: The above video shows KXAN Live’s top morning headlines for Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Ahead of Halloween, vacation rental company Airbnb started a new system to stop party house rentals over the spooky holiday weekend.
The company said its new system, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, aims to restrict some one-night and two-night bookings for entire homes.
Airbnb's system will look at hundreds of indicators when someone is trying to book a rental, the company said. These include the length of the trip, the distance to the listing and if the booking is last minute.
Guests must also attest to the company's party ban policy, which was used last year.
Over Halloween in 2022, about 1,500 bookings were deterred in Austin due to the company's party house preventions, per Airbnb. Across Texas, a total of 11,000 people were discouraged from Halloween house bookings compared to bookings in 2021.
Other Texas cities also saw large numbers of deterred bookings last Halloween, according to Airbnb. About 2,600 people in Houston, about 1,900 in Dallas and about 140 people in Plano were discouraged from booking entire homes.
The company also said it saw a decrease in disruptive parties during the 2022 Halloween holiday.
This is part of Airbnb's global ban on parties that went into effect in 2020.