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Airbnb to crack down on ‘party houses’ after five shot dead in US
Airbnb is cracking down on ‘party house’ rentals following the deadly Halloween shooting that left five people dead in Orinda, California.
The Halloween party was attended by 100 people, police said, even though the host was apparently told it was for a family reunion of just 12 people.
One of the victims was a DJ hired to work at the party.
Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky fired off a series of tweets announcing new rules for rentals.
"Starting today, we are banning ‘party houses’ and we are redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorized parties and get rid of abusive host and guest conduct, including conduct that leads to the terrible events we saw in Orinda," Chesky said.
Executive Margaret Richardson will be in charge of implementing the new policies, which will roll out over the next 10 days.
The host’s policies at the San Francisco area rental stated that parties were not allowed.
"We must do better, and we will. This is unacceptable," Chesky said.
"First, we are expanding manual screening of high-risk reservations flagged by our risk detection technology. Second, we are creating a dedicated ‘party house’ rapid response team. Third, we are taking immediate action against users who violate these enhanced guest policies, including removal," Chesky said in additional tweets.
"Arriving officers found a highly chaotic scene that included gunshot victims, injured party-goers, and numerous people fleeing the scene. The partygoers apparently came from throughout the Bay Area for this Halloween event," the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said.
Three died at the scene and a further two were pronounced dead at hospital.
The Sheriff’s Office said no suspects have been arrested yet.
The rental has been suspended from the platform and the guest who booked the house has been permanently banned, Airbnb said.
Unauthorized parties have always been outlawed on the Airbnb platform yet that hasn’t stopped a number of high profile incidents of homes being trashed.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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