The announcement follows a similar ban on one-night reservations at Halloween in the area.
The ban is meant to cut down on unauthorized parties on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Airbnb spokesperson Ben Breit says parties can be unsafe for guests, cause damage to hosts’ properties and be a nuisance to neighbors.
“We're finding that our hosts appreciate it. Hopefully neighbors are appreciating it as well. That’s a really important objective here is to ensure that we and our community are doing right by neighbors of Airbnb listings who deserve peace and quiet as well.”
[audio wav="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ben-clip-one.wav"][/audio]
Breit says he expects a jump in Airbnb bookings in Central Florida over the holidays, as COVID vaccines make family get togethers possible again.
“We anticipate we’ll see a whole bunch more of family travel. Right? A lot of the bread and butter for Central Florida for so many of the past decades. You know we'll continue to see that a lot of kind of multigenerational gatherings that weren't really possible during the height of the pandemic, really are now that the vaccine is out and doing so much good.”
[audio mp3="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ben-clip-two.mp3"][/audio]
Breit says in 2020 alone, about 600 reservations were blocked during the New Year's holiday in Orlando and Kissimmee because of this rule.
Airbnb no longer requires masks or social distancing on properties in Central Florida, but Breit says deep cleaning procedures are still being carried out.
