COCOA BEACH, Fla. – It’s a consistent problem that gets worse every long holiday weekend. Parties at vacation rentals are often loud and sometimes, even violent.
Now, across Central Florida, as communities crack down on these rentals, Airbnb itself is explaining what it’s doing to eliminate party homes.
A statement from spokesperson Lisa Cohen describes how Airbnb seems to be using AI to tell when someone is booking a rental if they intend to throw a party.
That statement sent to News 6 reads in part, “These anti-party defenses use machine learning to help prevent potentially higher-risk bookings of entire home listings from being made, and help enforce Airbnb’s global party ban. Guests attempting to book will either be blocked from doing so, or redirected to alternative accommodations on the platform.”
Last summer, Airbnb said this stopped more than 7,000 bookings in Florida.
The company noted that parties are extremely rare on Airbnb.
According to Airbnb, just .08% of all bookings in Florida last year resulted in an allegation of a party.
Dave Dickey with Cocoa Beach’s building department said that’s not the case in his city.
Dickey spoke to commissioners at their meeting on June 19.
“We certainly get a lot of complaints about party houses,” he said.
When police respond to those complaints under a new rule the commission approved, not only do they have to enforce the city’s eight-person occupant limit for a rental, but now, they also have to count anybody to that total who’s been there longer than 15 minutes.
Chief Wes Mullins said that could be a challenge.
“How do we prove that when we go in and go out of a house?” he asked the commissioners. “Are we gonna sit inside of somebody’s house for 15 minutes with a body cam on and count to 15 minutes?”
Since it started banning parties in 2020, Airbnb reported parties in the state are down more than 40%.
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