Airbnb Deploys Anti-Party Tech for 4th of July in Austin

Airbnb is deploying "anti-party technology" during the Fourth of July weekend to prevent disruptive gatherings. The technology analyzes factors like booking history, location, and length of stay to identify potentially problematic reservations. In 2024, approximately 8,000 Texas bookings were blocked using this technology over summer holidays.

Vacation property rentals company Airbnb is once again using its "proprietary anti-party technology" to block "unauthorized and disruptive parties" over the Fourth of July weekend. The technology will be available across the U.S. and Puerto Rico — including in Austin.

Airbnb first used this technology during Memorial Day weekend to "block" certain bookings, with "the aim of reducing the risk of disruptive parties, which are banned on our platform."

"Although incidents of disruptive parties on Airbnb are rare, we are committed to working to reduce the risk and helping hosts promote positive experiences in their homes and local neighborhoods," the company stated in a press release.

How do Airbnb's 'anti-party defenses' work?

Airbnb's anti-party technology uses machine learning to block "certain (booking) attempts" to identify and prevent the possibility of a disruptive party by considering several factors, including venue, length of stay, distance and whether the reservation was made last minute.

According to the press release, the system uses that criteria to determine whether the booking should be blocked. Anyone "blocked" from booking an entire home will have the ability to book alternative accommodations on Airbnb.

Airbnb blocked 8,000 Texas bookings over 2024 summer holidays

The company's anti-party defenses appear to have been successful over the same summer holiday weekends last year. Of the estimated 51,000 people prevented from booking, 8,000 were blocked in Texas. Austin saw around 620 deterred from booking an entire home listing, Airbnb reports. These measures prompted fewer reports of parties over the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends.

The anti-party technology is part of a broader set of tools and policies designed to "promote responsible travel" and "help hosts safeguard their spaces" in the U.S. as well as globally. Airbnb has a vested interest in these times when demand for accommodations is higher, such as over holiday weekends. The same defenses were also used in Austin this past New Year's Eve.

Airbnb maintains that disruptive parties "remain extremely rare." In 2024, only 0.08% of Texas reservations had reports of alleged parties. Such reports in the Lone Star State have dropped by 45% since the company introduced its global party ban policy in 2020. This trend is also consistent throughout the U.S.

"Since 2020, when we introduced our global party ban policy, we’ve seen an over 50 percent decrease in the rate of party reports to us in the US," Airbnb said. "In 2024, fewer than approximately 0.06 percent of reservations on Airbnb in the US resulted in a report of a party."