“We live next to an Airbnb that is doing a lot of business right now for large groups of people throwing parties.” – “Airbnb warns against parties in D.C.”

Photo by Ted Eytan

“Dear PoPville,

Have you heard anything about the legality of renting Airbnb properties during the Stay-at-Home Order? We live next to one that is doing a lot of business right now for large groups of people throwing parties. Seems to contradict the spirit of the lockdown and was wondering if this was a problem in other parts of the district too.”

From Airbnb:

“The month of May brings with it many moments worth celebrating for District residents — from high school and college graduations to Memorial Day weekend festivities.

Under typical circumstances, Airbnb empowers our hosts to set House Rules on events and parties that are appropriate for their communities. However, these are very different times, and public health must come first. To that end, we have previously announced that we will not allow for hosts to authorize parties and events in regions where current public health mandates prohibit events and gatherings. As Mayor Bowser has extended the city’s stay-at-home order through May 15, our new policy means we are not allowing any type of party in D.C. until this order is lifted.

We want to be very clear — not only will we ban guests who attempt to throw an unauthorized party in a D.C. Airbnb listing, we will be cooperating with MPDC in any investigations relating to parties and violations of public health mandates, consistent with our Terms of Service.

Additionally, we have reinforced this policy by temporarily disabling the “event-friendly” search filter, which is typically used so that guests can seek out venues for responsible parties and gatherings. We continue to temporarily remove the “parties and events allowed” rule from the House Rules of any Seattle listings that formerly authorized parties. And, of course, we maintain our rigorous work to prevent and address unauthorized parties, which have always been forbidden and reflect particularly serious abuses of our rules during this public health crisis.

During this challenging time, our host community has stepped up in an extraordinary way by offering 100,000 places to stay globally for COVID-19 responders through Airbnb’s Frontline Stays program. We are incredibly proud of hosts in cities around the world who have offered their homes to those on the front lines and in need of shelter, and we thank them for providing this critical need for safe accomodations at such an important moment in history.

As government and health authorities relax mandates and guidance pertaining to social distancing, we will evaluate these policy adjustments and provide updates for our community. The safety of our hosts and guests is our priority, and we thank them for their understanding during this challenging time.

For latest information on our COVID-19 response, from policy updates to resources for hosts and guests, please visit airbnb.com/covid19.”