Sharing economy

Airbnb curbs under 25s

Airbnb has extended its ban on under 25-year-olds with negative reviews from renting entire local properties local to France, Spain and the UK.

The platform trialled the policy in the US as part of efforts to limit unauthorised parties.

Airbnb said: “The restriction is intended to protect local communities while still allowing younger guests to book listings outside of their local area.”

The company has taken a more rigorous approach to bookings after a shooting last Halloween in which five people died. The platform said that it would be "expanding manual screening of high-risk reservations" and "creating a dedicated 'party house' rapid response team”.

Patrick Robinson, Airbnb's director of public policy, said: “While the overwhelming majority of guests on our platform are responsible neighbours, we are absolutely determined to obstruct and weed out anyone intent on causing anti-social behaviour.

“We want to do everything we can to be good partners to the communities where hosts live and we hope that our new policy will make it abundantly clear that there is no home for any unauthorised parties on Airbnb.”