Airbnb’s new feature lets neighbors complain about guests
If you're fed up with the people next door, the company wants to know.
Just because your neighbors signed up to rent out their home through Airbnb doesn’t mean you agreed to noisy wall guests. Starting this week, if people using one of those short-term rentals near you are too loud, too dirty, too whatever, you can complain to the company.
Airbnb introduced a feature Tuesday for the neighbors of their rental home residents. Users can select from four types of issues to alert the company: noise, party, or disturbance; common spaces (parking, trash, etc.); general concerns with neighbor hosting; and personal safety or criminal activity.
Any citizen can submit a complaint either by specifying the Airbnb listing via its web address or by its street address, to which Airbnb can match it through their database. Neighbors can also complain anonymously, without getting cops or landlords involved. A complainer’s contact information won’t be shared with the Airbnb host unless they choose to do so.
Airbnb says that the “overwhelming majority of Airbnb guests are respectful travelers, so complaints and issues are incredibly rare,” but still wanted to have the option to help their users be respectful of the neighborhood, according to a statement.
“We’ll treat each case seriously and ensure that we give hosts and their neighbors the opportunity to resolve concerns themselves, whenever possible,” the statement said. “Hosting is a big responsibility and those who repeatedly fail to meet our standards and expectations will be subject to suspension or removal from the Airbnb community.”
Since Airbnb launched, there have been more than 80 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings, according to the company, and those guests have visited more than 190 countries worldwide. That’s a lot of neighbors.
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