Will You Be My Neighbor?
Police across the country began fielding calls early in the season about suburban party-goers terrorizing neighborhoods. Complaints included drunk revelers urinating off balconies, setting hillsides alight with fireworks and even spitting at neighbors, claiming they had Covid-19. The Los Angeles Police Department, Hollywood Division, had a 60% increase in radio calls related to party houses this summer compared to last, according to Captain Steven Lurie.
Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, the division allocates four officers to police party houses. “It’s not just an issue of public disturbance; we can’t allow them to become superspreader events,” he said.
In response to a spike in complaints, Airbnb bolstered its party-house policy in August, capping occupancy at 16. It also expanded prohibitions on people under 25 from making one-night reservations in the area in which they live. Airbnb uses an automated system to flag potentially problematic reservations for manual review and as a result has been able to identify and proactively cancel almost 9,000 “high-risk reservations” in the U.S. and Canada. Separately, a team of 60 Airbnb agents trained specifically on party house take-downs have suspended more than 380 listings since August, according to Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit.
Pandemic Boost
The Dallas party house was one of them. It had already been blacklisted from Airbnb in January, after racking up complaints on the neighbor hotline, Breit says. Before the suspension was over, the house became available again on the site under the name of a new property manager: Kristin Gerst. “What I saw when Covid hit — and all of us short-term rental owners saw — was a plethora of low-class guests who disregard house rules,” says Gerst, who has managed short-term rentals in Dallas for three years and took over the property in February.
Prior to the pandemic, guests would leave Gerst “lovely thank you notes,” she says. Now they leave food on the floor, cigarette butts on tabletops and piles of trash. One guest even burned her house rules book — which specifically states no parties. When people lie about their intentions before a booking, hosts have few options for recourse, Gerst says.
One particularly egregious party at the Dallas listing was planned by a woman who said she wanted to reserve the house for her sister’s baby shower. In reality, she was hunting for a venue for the “Labor Day Mansion Party,” which was advertised on Eventbrite, offering bottle service and DJs. Neighbors saw people carrying turntables into the backyard and boxes of spirits delivered to the front door. Hundreds of people piled inside.
Once the party was in full swing, Gerst called the guest, who turned her phone off. She then asked Airbnb for help; the company canceled the reservation and permanently removed the listing from the platform. Gerst also tried the police, but it took five hours for them to arrive. “I’ve never felt so helpless,” she says, adding she’s now hiring a security company for backup.
While banned from Airbnb, the house was available on Vrbo until Oct. 6, when Bloomberg News inquired about the property. It remains on Expedia’s site though can’t be booked.
Over the past few years, Airbnb has been working to smooth its relationship with cities on short-term rental regulations but pandemic party houses have caused old tensions to flare again. In 19 of Airbnb’s top 25 cities -– by occupancy rate, as ranked by data firm AirDNA — city councils have either raised concerns about short-term rentals, enforced more stringent regulations due to Covid-19, or at least considered them, according to a review of city council documents. In August, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti authorized the city to shut off power, water and gas at properties hosting large gatherings. “The consequences of these large parties ripple throughout our entire community because the virus can quickly and easily spread,” he said at the time. On Aug. 19, the city cut the power to a Hollywood mansion rented by TikTok star Bryce Hall after he had held several parties there.
A few days later, Airbnb was sued by the Opera Tower condominium in Miami for breaking the city’s short-term rental laws and turning the building into a “de facto, unlicensed hotel.” In a lawsuit, the condo’s association says it’s been forced to hire off-duty police officers to assist with relentless late-night parties. “There have been numerous crimes committed at the property by the transient users, including robberies, assaults and allegations of a rape,” the lawsuit states. Two gunmen exchanged fire inside the building in June, riddling the third floor elevator lobby with bullet holes. The condo’s association didn’t respond to requests for comment.