Airbnb cracks down on Fourth of July holiday weekend parties; 2022 shootings in Pittsburgh still unsolved

Airbnb has once again implemented its anti-party system for the Fourth of July and Memorial Day weekends this year — and Pennsylvania is included.

Its machine-learning technology identifies certain attempts to book one- or two-night stays in entire homes that could be at high risk for disruptive parties and prevents the bookings from going through, the company said.

“The system looks at a range of factors, which include the type of listing being booked, the duration of the stay, the distance to the listing from the guest’s location and whether the booking is last minute — among many more signals — to determine whether a booking should be blocked,” Airbnb said.

About 67,500 people were blocked in 2023 from booking entire home listings in the United States over those two weekends, Airbnb said.

In Pennsylvania specifically last year, the initiative deterred 2,800 people from booking entire home listings over the Fourth of July and Memorial Day weekends.

Though disruptive parties are banned through Airbnb and incidents are “rare,” according to the company, Airbnb said it intends to promote positive experiences.

In 2023, 0.035% of reservations globally resulted in a party report to Airbnb, the company said.

Mass shooting in Pittsburgh in 2022

The Easter morning shooting at an Airbnb on April 17, 2022, on Pittsburgh’s North Side left two teenagers killed and eight others injured.

Police said about 200 people — many underage — were at a party at the Airbnb in the city’s East Allegheny neighborhood when gunfire erupted. It remains unsolved.

“The overwhelming majority of guests and hosts on Airbnb are respectful neighbors and travelers, and disruptive parties are rare,” said Tara Bunch, Airbnb’s global head of operations. “Our aim is to reduce the risk even more, and we’re optimistic these efforts will have a positive impact for hosts and local communities.”

Airbnb said potential guests who are denied from booking an entire home will have the option of booking a private room or hotel room through the company instead.

This anti-party system has previously been in effect for other holidays as well, such as Halloween and New Year’s Eve, Airbnb said.

Ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, Airbnb reached out to law enforcement in various cities, including in Pennsylvania, to share support the company has in place for potential issues at Airbnb properties, such as assistance from a specialized response team.

Its online law enforcement portal, which began in 2019, allows law enforcement to submit legal requests for information from Airbnb.