Airbnb is cracking down on what it considers “party houses” and does not plan to stand idly by if the new rules are broken.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, the company announced a global ban on all parties and events at Airbnb list­ings, including a cap on occupancy at 16. This party ban applies to all future bookings on Airbnb and it will apply indefinitely until further notice.

This policy does not apply to other vacation rental companies like VRBO, Booking.com, Expedia, HomeAway or HometoGo. Many vacation rental owners use multiple services for their properties.

According to Airbnb spokeswoman Mattie Muñoz Zazueta, the company has taken numerous steps in the past year to address parties on their platform. In addi­tion to banning parties and instituting an occupancy cap of 16 guests, it previously announced a “party house” ban — meaning a ban on listings that create persistent neighborhood nuisance. It also has new technologies to stop unauthorized parties and a new community policy post-COVID requiring hosts and guests to adhere to local public health mandates limiting gatherings.

“Given the pandemic and the variation in local health mandates across jurisdictions, we’ve determined it is necessary to enforce a stricter, more consistent policy globally, in the interests of public health,” Zazueta said.

· Parties are now prohibited on all future bookings.

· Occupancy at Airbnb listings will be capped at 16 people. This is primarily relevant to larger homes that the company previously allowed to list as able to accommodate 16-plus people.

· Airbnb is scoping a potential exception process for specialty and traditional hospitality venues i.e. boutique hotels.

· Guests will be informed of the party rules and informed that they may be legally pursued by Airbnb if they violate the policy.

This comes on the heels of a party house crack­down in Arizona which resulted in the suspension or removal of 50-plus listings throughout the state that have received complaints or otherwise violated their policies on parties and events.

Airbnb defines a party as a gathering at one of their listings that causes significant disruption to neighbors and the surrounding community.

“We know that 16 is not a magic number, and issues can occur with groups of any size,” Zazueta said. “That’s why we will continue to enforce our existing party rules against groups of any size and will be taking action both on guests and listings if we receive reports from neighbors — drawing the occupancy line at 16 people in a home is simply a starting point.”

That’s good news to the city of Sedona, which has been dealing with the short-term vacation rental issue even since Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey passed Senate Bill 1350 in 2016, allowing vacation rentals throughout the state.

“I am encouraged to see the largest online marketplace recognizing how harmful these party houses, and the activi­ties often associated with them, can be within otherwise quiet residential neighborhoods,” Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director Karen Osburn said. “The uses are simply not compatible and I hope the other online market­places will do the same.”

This cap applies to events like birthdays, gr adua t ions , f ami l y reunions or wedding receptions where people may attend an event at the house but may not be staying there.

“Previously, we’ve banned open-invite parties, such as those advertised on social media, as well as party houses, meaning a home that becomes a persistent neighborhood nuisance,” Zazueta said. “Once the pandemic was declared, we updated our policies to require that users must follow local COVID-19 public health restrictions on gatherings. Now we’re elevating our policies to ban all parties [open invite or otherwise] on future bookings.

“Those who break our rules or try to skirt them face consequences — including bans from our community — and we may even take legal action.”