Airbnb removes 300 New Zealand listings in party house purge

Party house purge: New Zealand is the latest territory to undergo Airbnb's crackdown. Photo / Unplash, Vlad Tchompalov

Airbnb has scrubbed 300 New Zealand properties from its lettings platform this weekend, as its global crackdown on problem houses continues.

The website says the decision was made after an update to its policies which included a ban on parties and events in Airbnb listings which came into effect in August. So far, changes have affected bookings for large groups or guests under the age of 25.

Now it is the turn of those hosting bookings to go under scrutiny.

"Our message to everyone who uses Airbnb could not be clearer; bad behaviour has no place on Airbnb," said Derek Nolan, the site's head of policy for Australia and New Zealand.

With more than 300 listings removed, this represents just under 1 per cent of the 37,000 rooms for rent across the country.

The houses were identified as properties which had caused "repeated nuisance" for communities. The website introduced a new tool on its Neighbourhood Support Page for neighbours to report unruly parties. This community-watch hotline for "policing parties" had led to some of this weekend's suspensions, Airbnb said.

Nolan says the vast majority of users on its platform – hosts and guests – are "making a positive contribution to surrounding neighbourhoods, including by supporting jobs and helping to ensure tourism dollars flow into local businesses".

This comes a month after a similar purge of problem listings took place in Australia. The platform announced it had removed 500 properties from Australia and stopped 9000 "high-risk" bookings in October.

The global crackdown on problematic users comes while the website announced intentions for an ambitious Initial Public Offering on the US markets. In a statement announcing the IPO, Airbnb said winning back "community trust" would be an important engine of success.