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Airbnb's Naba Banerjee Reduced Partying By 55% In Two Years (cnbc.com) 71

Posted by BeauHD from the official-party-pooper dept.
Hayden Field writes via CNBC: Naba Banerjee is a proud party pooper. As the person in charge of Airbnb's worldwide ban on parties, she's spent more than three years figuring out how to battle party "collusion" by users, flag "repeat party houses" and, most of all, design an anti-party AI system with enough training data to halt high-risk reservations before the offender even gets to the checkout page. It's been a bit like a game of whack-a-mole: Whenever Banerjee's algorithms flag some concerns, new ones pop up.

Airbnb defines a party as a gathering that occurs at an Airbnb listing and "causes significant disruption to neighbors and the surrounding community," according to a company rep. To determine violations, the company considers whether the gathering is an open-invite one, and whether it involves excessive noise, trash, visitors, parking issues for neighbors, and other factors. Banerjee joined the company's trust and safety team in May 2020 and now runs that group. In her short time at the company, she's overseen a ban on high-risk reservations by users under age 25, a pilot program for anti-party AI in Australia, heightened defenses on holiday weekends, a host insurance policy worth millions of dollars, and this summer, a global rollout of Airbnb's reservation screening system.

Some measures have worked better than others, but the company says party reports dropped 55% between August 2020 and August 2022 -- and since the worldwide launch of Banerjee's system in May, more than 320,000 guests have been blocked or redirected from booking attempts on Airbnb. Overall, the company's business is getting stronger as the post-pandemic travel boom starts to fade. Last month, the company reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations on earnings per share and revenue, with the latter growing 18% year over year, despite fewer-than-expected numbers of nights and experiences booked via the platform.
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Airbnb's Naba Banerjee Reduced Partying By 55% In Two Years More

Airbnb's Naba Banerjee Reduced Partying By 55% In Two Years

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  • That's nice now go away (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday September 20, 2023 @09:27PM (#63864636)
    Airbnb is terrible for everyone except a handful of people getting rich off it. It devours housing resources and converts them into short term rental hotels making Airbnb the largest hotelier in the country without ever actually owning any hotels. It contributes to housing shortages and drives up pricing while chasing out useful people from your community. And it leads to urban sprawl and worse traffic jams because instead of all your tourists being in a hotel district they're now spread all over your city driving in rental cars to get wherever they were going.

    What they're doing is or at least used to be until they started lobbying very illegal. We have zoning regulations for a reason.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 )

      It devours housing resources

      Obvious solution: Construct more housing.

      We have zoning regulations for a reason.

      That reason is mostly to keep low-income people out of "nice" neighborhoods by separating jobs from housing. If you have to drive everywhere, then you can't live there if you can't afford a car.

      • It devours housing resources

        Obvious solution: Construct more housing.

        We have zoning regulations for a reason.

        That reason is mostly to keep low-income people out of "nice" neighborhoods by separating jobs from housing. If you have to drive everywhere, then you can't live there if you can't afford a car.

        Constructing more housing is -not- the solution. In the US, there are already more houses than homeless people. https://checkyourfact.com/2019... [checkyourfact.com] Reading elsewhere, it seems that the issue is that the empty houses are not in the places people want/need to live... I know I don't want to live in the outlying areas of east Austin, but that's where the sweetish spot of affordability/distance to the factory I work at is. No telecommute for me! Not sure what the ultimate solution would be. A nationwide plan to

    • Re:That's nice now go away (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Shakrai ( 717556 ) on Wednesday September 20, 2023 @10:04PM (#63864686) Journal

      Preach! There isn't even local flavor left these days. My early Airbnb experience was staying in someone's apartment, overseas, while she was away. Her agent (I think boyfriend, lol) gave me a free 4G Hotspot (boy that saved me a ton on roaming fees) and a huge list of "off the beaten path" activities I'd never have found on Google. Great experience. Still chat with them on WhatsApp. Today, there's none of that left, at least in the States. I've browsed listings where 80% of the available rentals in a city look exactly the same. They're apartments purchased by out of town investors and converted en masse into something vaguely resembling a hotel room. It's blatantly illegal in most US cities but they're doing it anyway.

      They're priced identically to real hotel rooms too, except, hotels don't give you a list of check-out chores. They have housekeeping for that. No hotel has ever demanded I strip beds and toss linens into the washing machine. I don't object to the owner-occupied concept, where you're renting out a room, or perhaps the mother-in-law unit out back. That's the line my current city has drawn. No short term rentals unless the owner resides on the property. Of course, they don't have the resources to enforce it, so all those faux-hotel rooms still dominate listings.

      The only person I know that tried being a host got out of it, his winter home in a warmer locale, he was drawn to Airbnb because he could block off dates and still have the house for himself when he wanted. He gave up after six months because it was too much of a hassle. He found it easier to rent it out under a traditional lease arrangement. Since it's furnished he can charge more and target short (six to nine month) leases for the traveling business crowd. He's making MORE money doing that, despite a lower "day rate" than Airbnb, because he's not paying the utility bills and having to get cleaners in the place after every booking.

      • Re:That's nice now go away (Score:5, Insightful)

        by lsllll ( 830002 ) on Thursday September 21, 2023 @12:29AM (#63864848)

        They're priced identically to real hotel rooms too, except, hotels don't give you a list of check-out chores. They have housekeeping for that. No hotel has ever demanded I strip beds and toss linens into the washing machine.

        I think you're trivializing some of the benefits that come with an AirBnB. A hotel room will give you a room with one or two beds. If you're two couples trying to get away and have a good time, a hotel room is an awful setting. A two bedroom AirBnB with a common area is the perfect place for a few people to mingle without having to spend an exorbitant amount of money in restaurants or bars (where they can't even talk to each other) if they're getting together for a mini vacation in another town. What you have to realize is that one size (hotels) don't fit all.

        • If you want to rent a condo or a small house, there's VRBO for that.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by lsllll ( 830002 )
            I don't know what VRBO is, but how would it be different than AirBnB? I mean, I assume it's a service that rents someone's personal space to other people. Right?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by lsllll ( 830002 )
            So, I checked VRBO. Its track record is not that much [wikipedia.org] clearer than AirBnB's [wikipedia.org]. Both have had some issues, but neither actually would be a deterrent for me. Like I said in my above post, at the end of the day, VRBO is just AirBnB if it was successful enough.

        • A hotel room will give you a room with one or two beds.

          You clearly don't look around for hotels much. Major chains have a large variety of options including separate bedrooms, kitchens, furnished apartments, and they aren't much more expensive than shitty AirBnBs after you take into account the endless list of fees that get lumped on top the the listing when you try and book.

          And that's before you even bother to look at condos or other non-AirBnB short term rental options which exist.

          • True, but that also ignores that most of us who travel regularly are pretty good at comparing options. Certainly there are plenty situations where a hotel is easier and more practical but there are also plenty where an AirBnB is a much better value. We're looking at something in Europe with 8 bedrooms for next year and while the fees are huge, they aren't terrible when compared to booking that many rooms at a hotel. Plus that allows our family access to a great kitchen where we can take turns cooking and sa

          • Condo/house style rooms from major hotel chains are rare as hen's teeth, and if you find a two-bedroom suite with a kitchenette, it's likely to be priced in the stratosphere if its even available.

            Some resort areas have literal rental condos (like at a ski resort), but without using a third party service they're tough to come by in non-resort areas.

            Some of the extended stay type hotels come kind of close -- I stayed at one recently, but its too open floor plan even if its just one couple staying there. The

        • You can rent family sized rooms that are attached so you and the missus / hubby have a room with a door that opens to another room you stick the kids in.

          I suppose if you've got 11 kids you might have problems, but if you have 11 kids, well, you have problems.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shakrai ( 717556 )

          I think you're trivializing some of the benefits that come with an AirBnB.

          I think you’re ignoring completely all the points I made about the societal disadvantages that come with AirBnB. You think it’s okay to remove hundreds of apartments from the market during a housing shortage?

          A two bedroom AirBnB with a common area is the perfect place for a few people to mingle

          There are traditional hotels that offer exactly this. We stayed at one [innatnyebeach.com] when we hosted a friend and her young child this summer. Two bedrooms, kitchen, and living room, and they didn’t expect us to do housekeeping’s job for them.

          In any case, I think I was clear, I’m no

          • > Nobody except the investors wins that game.

            The "investors" could be regular people who own an extra apartment, I think it is not right to restrict their right of use over their properties like that, if they don't cause a nuisance, just on principle. That apartment could be the result of years of hard work. Just build more & build smarter. Don't blame people who worked hard to buy something and then use their properties.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Shakrai ( 717556 )

              Homie, that’s a nice free market argument I’d normally be sympathetic to, but it’s not reality. In reality, most of them look exactly the same. In reality, they’re bought by large out of town investment firms with no connection to the city they’re operating in. I have repeatedly said I have no issue with owner occupied properties. That’s how my city attempted to draw the line.

              If my friend’s experience with his second home is any indication, you can’t make

        • The usage you desire is perfectly served by getting a suite, or by getting two adjacent hotel rooms and opening the door between them. I have attended so many room parties at furry conventions that were held in two adjacent rooms or in a suite.

          You can also do things like go out to a park and chill together.

          • Yup, this. Or if suites are too expensive, what's wrong with just getting regular rooms (possibly on different floors or ends of the building) for each couple and hanging out in one of them after dinner? Is the OP afraid the other couple is going to see their dirty underwear lying around? Or hell, if you're that worried about it go halfsies on a third room that you just use as your shared "living room" space. Or just all of you get cozy in one room with two double beds. I've done all these things at conven

      • What a myth. (Score:3, Informative)

        by stooo ( 2202012 )

        >> It's blatantly illegal in most US cities
        Land of the free.
        What a myth.

      • Great apartment; good price, good location (easy tram ride to city centre). Owners ran a greasy spoon cafe downstairs.

    • A tourist town where I live has got to the point where the staff the tourist businesses need can't afford to live there, or anywhere even close because of Airbnb.
      Market forces I suppose.
      • that's how that's working. The people making your food at those resorts are living out of vans... if they're lucky.
        • Shouldn't that jack up the wages? If nobody around wants the job, the owners have to pay more. Market forces at work. If people are willing to travel so much for work, maybe the pay is right.
          • The employers complain to the government that they can't get staff, the government allows them to import cheap labour from overseas on special "skilled migrant" visas, the new workers quickly figure out they're being exploited and leave and the whole thing rolls over.
            A proper market for labour is not allowed to occur ever. Corporate profits might suffer.
        • As far as I can tell from a distance, the employers complain to the government that they can't get staff, the government allows them to import cheap labour from overseas on special "skilled migrant" visas, the new workers quickly figure out they're being exploited and leave and the whole thing rolls over.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      Airbnb is terrible for everyone except a handful of people getting rich off it.

      Horsepucky, we have a cottage in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, and for the last four years we've been renting it out through Airbnb when we're not using it. I have to admit that it's nice to have other people paying most of the mortgage most months.

      We've had a few issues with parties over the years, but whatever Ms. Banerjee is doing seems to be working. This is the first summer without even a bridal shower (what is i

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Shakrai ( 717556 )

        Your cottage in the Cascades isn’t pricing residents out of their cities while destroying the hospitality industry that employs their friends and family. You have the use case people envision when they think of AirBnb. You aren’t an out of town investment company purchasing dozens of apartments and taking them off the market. Go to New Orleans, say the word "AirBnb", and see how residents there feel about it. :(

        As an aside, if you wanted, you could rent out your cottage without needing a pla

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          Just pointing out that your "everyone" is incorrect, for us and for tens of thousands of other non-corporation people.

          And sure, we could do it in a manner that is less efficient, gets fewer customers, has no protections (for us or for guests), no filtering of clients, and then we could figure out the tax implications (or, more likely, pay the fines when we did it wrong) and all the banking. I'm not a webmaster or a marketer, and starting from scratch with no experience in the hospitality industry is pretty

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by DarkOx ( 621550 )

          We used to use webpages and telephone calls for such things.

          You have clearly zero experience with short term rentals saying. No trust me you want a middle man. You don't want to dealing bounced checks and the like. You don't want phone calls asking when the last time you had the property swept for evil spirits was..

          Before AirBnB you just paid some short term property management company that generally took a much larger cut.

          Let's be honest here too, if the hospitality industry can be "destroyed" by what are effectively 'gig-workers' like the taxi industry seems to

          • The problem is not high rents pricing out people, but the lack of wage competition. If people got better choices for jobs, they won't deliver food 2 hours away for minimum wage.
        • Can't they progressively tax depending on how many properties are put on AirBnb by an owner? Cheap for one, expensive if they want to create a virtual hotel.
        • No you can't rent out your cottage without needing a middle man. You will get screwed and lose your shirt. I don't do AirBnb. I have a property that I rent out long term (I used to have more units but largely abandoned it and am now down to one) You absolutely need a middleman who can do things like screen potential tenants with economy of scale. And also respond quickly when necessary.

          AirBnd and VRBO are shitty middlemen. They just connect people and offer some financial guarantees (which are necess

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by lsllll ( 830002 )

      Airbnb is terrible for everyone except a handful of people getting rich off it.

      And the people doing the renting, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. I go on getaways with my friends 2-3 times a year and we always get an AirBnB in hot spots outside Chicago in Michigan or Wisconsin. We rent a house, go out for the day and enjoy the town, go to a restaurant and eat, and come back to the place and drink into the wee hours of the morning, chatting and having a good time. It doesn't hurt anybody, and we wouldn't be able to spend a night or two together was it not for AirBnB. We'd have

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Airbnb is terrible for everyone except a handful of people getting rich off it. It devours housing resources and converts them into short term rental hotels making Airbnb the largest hotelier in the country without ever actually owning any hotels. It contributes to housing shortages and drives up pricing while chasing out useful people from your community. And it leads to urban sprawl and worse traffic jams because instead of all your tourists being in a hotel district they're now spread all over your city driving in rental cars to get wherever they were going.

      What they're doing is or at least used to be until they started lobbying very illegal. We have zoning regulations for a reason.

      TBF, AirBNB isn't a hotelier, it's a booking agent same as Expedia or Priceline. They don't own any of the stock they sell either.

      If people are buying up property exclusively for short term lets, AirBNB isn't at fault here as they'll just move onto the next platform (including Expedia/Priceline) if you punish AirBNB for it. You need to, erm... actually enforce those zoning laws you said are there for a reason. However in the US this means punishing rich white businessmen and that is, as far as I can tell

      • Solution - ban mobile phones and internet, no more AirBnb. As long as people can communicate, they cam find a way to rent peer-2-peer.
        LOL /s

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ichijo ( 607641 )

      Airbnb...contributes to housing shortages and drives up pricing

      Not really. An Airbnb collapse won't fix America's housing shortage. [vox.com] It's just a convenient scapegoat because of the other problems it causes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kalpol ( 714519 )
      Short term rentals used to be just a way to make extra cash from temporarily unused space. That lasted about a day then it turned into fully exploiting the neighborhoods for money. We worked hard to make those neighborhoods nice places, only to have our efforts siphoned into giant property companies buying up properties and exploiting all the nice things we build, draining our local households and harming the local schools.
      • I see, only some people can enjoy their properties, other people are just exploiting neighbourhoods if they rent their houses. And tourists don't have the right to travel and spend their money because that's exploiting neighbourhoods too.
    • That's exactly why I love AirBnb as a tourist - it allows me to experience the local culture and way of life, unlike hotels. I want to see a real house in a real building, with real local people, and walk the non-tourist areas where local culture is more apparent.

  • "To determine violations, the company considers whether the gathering is an open-invite one..."

    Can afford to come out of pocket thousands on credit to rent a home large enough to hold the balls it takes to host an open-invite party in a home you don't even own...

    "...more than 320,000 guests have been blocked or redirected from booking attempts on Airbnb.."

    Seems more and more are proving why being respectful or even slightly trusting by default, is a futile effort.

  • Umm. Great job I guess? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by illogicalpremise ( 1720634 ) on Wednesday September 20, 2023 @10:06PM (#63864692)

    > the company says party reports dropped 55% between August 2020 and August 2022

    So we're just going to completely ignore that fact that time period included a global pandemic with lockdowns and bans on gatherings? I mean did this bitch start Covid-19 herself just to improve her numbers?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      This is the first summer in four years that we haven't been stuck with an unexpected party, whatever Ms. Banerjee is doing seems to be working for us.

    • No, her AI did.

    • So we're just going to completely ignore that fact that time period included a global pandemic with lockdowns and bans on gatherings?

      Why wouldn't we? I mean most people did. Just because something was banned doesn't mean it wasn't done. In some cases it even resulted in the stepping down of the prime minister of a country with 67million population.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by WDot ( 1286728 )
      If she did, that is extreme dedication to the task! Give her a promotion!

  • These metrics sound facetious (Score:3)

    by sinkskinkshrieks ( 6952954 ) on Wednesday September 20, 2023 @11:05PM (#63864744)
    There were several Airbnb party pads in the last apartment complex I lived in. These people were always from out of town, left piles of garbage, and acted like fools at 3 am. Airbnb can fuck right off.
    • Why can't there be consequences for the host? Trash and noise - $1000 fine. The host would in turn get their money from the tourists or just close the rental. That's why we have police and laws. Lobby for strict enforcement. I don't appreciate when someone is throwing a party at their own home and making trash and noise, I don't care if they are tourists or friends of the host. We don't need to punish respectful people just because they travel, we can punish disruptive people for their actions.

  • Time for another startup - Air Party Places or similar.

    Partying away seems to be a real need, thus there must be money made by it.

    • That is what spring break hotels are for?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      People rent out AirBnB for parties because it's a cheap rate to pay for an event center where they can have a knock-down late night party. They can make money at the door ($20, $50, whatever per person), at their improvised bar (no liquor taxes or liquor licenses), and potentially as a cut of the illicit dealer's take. It's a lucrative hustle.

      Try to find somewhere to do that without paying thousands up front, often with extensive cleaning and damage contract clauses. You won't.

  • She reduced partying 55% in two years?

    She's off my party list.

    E

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