Airbnb rolls out restrictions in Canada to prevent New Year's Eve parties

Airbnb says it has a plan to curb New Year's Eve parties this year while Canada works to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, with the announcement coming not long after a short-term rental was the site of a 60-person party in Mississauga, Ont.

In addition to its ongoing ban on parties, Airbnb now says guests will need a history of positive reviews on its app to reserve an entire home for New Year's Eve in Canada.

Airbnb is making an exception for one-night bookings made up to Tuesday, based on data that suggests bookings made before early December rarely involve parties.

Most guests and hosts "are quite responsible, but there's always a couple people who try to skirt those rules," said Nathan Rotman, senior manager of public policy at Airbnb.

"We want to make sure that people are both adhering to public health guidelines and following the policies that we've put in place and our hosts have put in place."

Still, Rotman says there are plenty of good reasons why hosts might get bookings over the holidays, including people who might need to use rental suites for isolation purposes after returning to Canada. This new restriction, he says, is to target people who are ignoring company policies.

The app is loosening its standards from a similar policy on Halloween by allowing users with previous positive reviews to book a home for one night.

But Airbnb says it will put more stringent policies in place as the new year nears, by using technology that blocks certain kinds of last-minute bookings.

Airbnb's announcement comes after Deputy Chief Marc Andrews of the Peel Regional Police said a short-term rental unit was the site of a 60-person party this past weekend, resulting in thousands in fines to partiers who violated COVID-19 restrictions.