Airbnb gets serious about kicking rowdy guests off its platform

Bring on the crackdown.

Following a deadly Halloween mass shooting at an Airbnb rental in Orinda, California, the company announced it would issue new guidelines meant to keep both guests and hosts safe. Well, it looks like Airbnb followed through.

In a lengthy Dec. 5 blog post, the company's vice president of trust, Margaret Richardson, detailed all the ways the platform is going to change. Perhaps most importantly, as of early 2020 guests will be held to a stricter set of standards.

Specifically, according to the blog post, the new rules cover "Excessive noise," "Unauthorized guests," "Unauthorized parking," "Unauthorized smoking," and "Major cleanliness concerns requiring excessive cleaning after checkout."

And guests had better read the new rules carefully, as they come with some teeth.

"[If] it is determined that a guest has violated the new standards, the first violation will result in a warning and required education on Airbnb rules," writes Richardson. "Further violations may result in account suspension or removal."

This follows Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky's Nov. 6 stated plan to create "a 24/7 neighbor hotline so anyone can call us anytime, anywhere in the world and reach a real person." Which, presumably, is one way Airbnb will find out if a guest has broken any of the rules.

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That hotline is slated to launch in the U.S. before the end of this year.

Notably, Airbnb says it will also launch a "dedicated line" for city officials to reach the company to, presumably, both discuss its new policies and complain about specific rentals that appear to be in violation of platform or city rules.

In other words, a lot is about to change in the world of Airbnb rentals. Here's hoping the company's ready for the deluge of phone calls that is sure to be coming its way.