25 Airbnb properties in Allegheny County suspended or removed for violating party rules

More than two dozen Allegheny County Airbnb hosts have been suspended or removed from the rental website for violating covid-19 party restrictions put in place earlier this year.

According to the Monday announcement, 25 listings either received complaints or “otherwise violated” Airbnb’s policies on parties and events.

“We’ve banned parties and stand ready to enforce that policy throughout Pittsburgh and its suburbs,” Alex Dagg, Northeast public policy director for Airbnb, said. “We support safe and responsible travel in Pittsburgh and want to do our part to ensure public health remains the top priority.”

Airbnb did not release the locations of the 25 properties.

The company has banned unauthorized parties at Airbnb properties since 2019, and they announced a global ban on all parties and events in August amid the covid-19 pandemic. That began with removing the term “event-friendly” from the listing search filter, along with striking “parties and events allowed” as an option in hosts’ house rules.

Airbnb also capped occupancy for large homes at 16 people. In October, the company halted one-night reservations over Halloween weekend, and restrictions have been placed on renters under the age of 25 and the types of rentals they can access.

In a statement, company officials gave this example: the system will restrict a 20-year-old guest in Pittsburgh from booking a one-night stay the following weekend in the city unless they have a history of positive reviews.

Dagg said most hosts in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in Allegheny County have followed the rules and taken steps to put a stop to parties at their homes. He said the crackdown is to address a “small minority of hosts.”

A similar crackdown in Philadelphia led to 65 listings being suspended or removed.