Last year, two of the biggest players in the short-term rental industry promised to deal with the disruption their customers were inflicting on communities across the country. People in the greater Orlando area—which represents the industry’s No. 1 destination for family groups and topped search requests for the July 4 weekend—knew what they were talking about. They’d seen the peace of too many neighborhoods shattered by non-stop noise and traffic. In extreme cases, third-party promoters would turn residential properties into venues for drug- and alcohol-fueled bacchanals, charging entry fees and packing dozens of people into a single home.
Airbnb and Vrbo, the top two rental platforms, joined forces on a promise to do better. Last month, Airbnb, the nation’s largest vacation rental platform, adopted permanent changes that will make it easier to identify irresponsible users—renters and property owners alike—and shut them down. The new policy includes a blanket ban on “disruptive parties,” but goes beyond that to address patterns associated with bad behavior. For example, over the July 4 weekend potential guests without any positive reviews were blocked from booking one-night stays of homes. And Airbnb says it was on the lookout for last-minute bookings by locals as well.
In addition, Airbnb has set up a portal that lets nearby property owners register complaints about disruptive listings at www.airbnb.com/neighbors. And they are putting these policies into action. Over 2021, Airbnb suspended more than 6,600 guests for violating the party ban, says company spokesman Haven Thorn. “We don’t tolerate when people violate our policies,” he says. Year-over-year, Florida has seen a 67% drop in party-house complaints on Airbnb.
Vrbo hasn’t taken as many overt steps as Airbnb has, but in a joint press release said it was applying similar criteria to block problem listings. The two companies, which dominate 75% of Florida’s vacation rental market, are also sharing data, and Vrbo has set up its own platform for reporting problems: homeaway.secure.force.com/helpcenter/StayNeighborly.
These are necessary steps that should help Florida officials shape better policy around an industry that is still sparking radical changes in the state’s tourism profile.
A disruptive force
Short-term rentals have upended Florida tourism in ways that few people anticipated. For some property owners, the industry has been a real boon, allowing them to draw additional income from their biggest investment. Vacationers also love the flexibility to choose homelike surroundings instead of resorts. And the industry is becoming an economic driver, pouring an estimated $27 billion into Florida’s economy pre-COVID. For the July 4 weekend, Orlando was the most-searched destination on Airbnb for families and travelers intending long stays.
But there’s a dark side. Across the state, thousands of quiet residential communities have had their tranquility disrupted when investors purchase one or more properties and turn them into full-time party venues —blaring loud music, scattering litter and bringing a never-ending stream of strangers into a once-cohesive and peaceful community. The New York Times recently cited an industry analysis showing that complaints about party houses across sites like Airbnb and Vrbo soared 250% between July and September of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020.
When residents of those neighborhoods reached out for help, they often hit a wall of blank indifference, with no way to contact property owners and a we’re-just-a-go-between response from vacation-rental sites. In some areas, residents said they were afraid to let their children walk to school or even play in the yard. Others reported seeing trash—and even drunk partygoers— spilling onto adjacent yards, and vehicles parked haphazardly on streets and private property. Noise is a constant complaint.
We’ve laid plenty of criticism at the feet of the biggest corporations in the short-term rental industry for their heavy-handed political tactics and attempts to quash local governments’ abilities to decide where short-term rentals should be allowed to operate. In 2011, the industry persuaded Florida lawmakers to pre-empt cities and counties from most regulation of vacation rentals, though communities that already had rules in place were exempt. The industry hasn’t stopped pushing, and every year bills are introduced that would further stymie local control. We still think pre-emption is a mistake. Local officials know their communities best. They understand which areas can handle vacation rentals, and which areas should remain strictly residential. If platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo really want to help communities, they’ll work to lift the block on local regulation and work with cities and counties to craft rational, fair rules that respect local individuality and needs.
The new “party house” rule is a significant gesture of good faith. It shows an understanding of the disruption that vacation rentals can create and a willingness to shift company policy—even sacrifice some profit—to restrict their impact on communities. Cynics might dismiss the new policies as window dressing in support of a stronger push to gut local rules. But the enforcement numbers bolster hope that the big platforms are ready to take the next logical step—and want to work with cities and counties instead of smothering local control. That would be a truly neighborly path to follow.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board published this opinion piece on July 10.
