Airbnb banning one-night Halloween bookings in Canada
Airbnb is banning one-night bookings over the Halloween weekend in Canada and the US to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
On Friday, the company said starting today, guests on Airbnb will not be able to make one-night bookings for entire-home listings on Friday, October 30, or Saturday, October 31, anywhere in Canada or the US.
“For previously booked reservations meeting the above criteria, Airbnb will cancel and reimburse the guests,” the release notes.
And Airbnb will fully pay for the guest reimbursements — this means hosts who have confirmed bookings canceled will still receive payment.
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“The great majority of guests are respectful of our hosts’ homes and neighbours, and we understand that this initiative will disrupt many one-night reservations that might not have led to parties. This action is designed to help protect our hosts and the communities they live in. We will also be introducing additional measures to complement the two-night minimum in an effort to stop as many large gatherings as possible,” the company added.
Airbnb also said that they plan to deploy “more stringent restrictions” on two- and three-night reservations that “may pose heightened risk for parties.”
To do this, they will expand the radius of their technology that restricts certain local and last-minute bookings by guests without a history of positive reviews on Airbnb.
And as the weekend approaches, the company will remind guests who are staying at places between October 28 and November 1, that parties are not allowed in listings.
In addition, guests “will also be required to attest that they understand that they may be subject to removal from Airbnb or legal action if they violate Airbnb’s rules on parties.”
If guests do throw a party, then trained agents from Airbnb’s neighbourhood support line will be on call throughout the weekend to quickly respond to issues raised by neighbours.
Since the declaration of the pandemic, Airbnb has launched a Frontline stays program for frontline responders and healthcare workers, introduced an Enhanced Cleaning Protocol to support safer travel, announcing their intent to bring legal action against certain unauthorized partiers, and introduced new restrictions on certain local and last-minute bookings in Canada and the US.
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