Orinda shooting: What can Airbnb do about violence at its rentals?
Halloween party violence that killed 4 people is just the latest "Airbnb mansion party" gone wrong.
A shooting at a Halloween party at an Airbnb in Orinda left four people dead and several others injured in the latest instance of a party at a short-term rental gone wrong, raising questions once again for San Francisco-based Airbnb.
Police responded to calls of shots fired Thursday after 10:45 p.m. at 114 Lucille Way, according to Orinda Police Chief David Cook. He said police found a party with about 100 in attendance when they arrived. Three people were pronounced dead at the scene and one died at a hospital. Contra Costa County sheriffs said it was hard to tell how many people were injured because some took themselves to the hospital.
Airbnb provides a platform for people to find and list short-term rentals. Arrangements are finalized by hosts and guests, who are supposed to communicate via the platform to guarantee they are protected under the company’s terms of service. Airbnb tells hosts they can require guests to complete verifications such as providing an ID, or to ask for security deposits. Not all hosts do this.
Most listings specify a limit of how many guests can stay at a property, but parties at the rentals have become increasingly common and are often promoted online.
In this case, social media posts show the party was to start at 10 p.m. and attendees were told to “BYOB.” Neighbors also told this publication that there had been noise complaints about parties at the Lucille Way house in the past six months, even though Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said the property listing called for no parties.
Airbnb rules state that a host must disclose when there are weapons at a listing, and guests are also required to use the messaging feature to inform a host about “any secured weapons prior to booking.”
The company provides a host guarantee of up to $1 million in case of damage to a property, although that does not cover personal liability and is not meant to replace homeowners insurance, Airbnb says on its website.
Breit has not returned requests for further comment about Airbnb policies.
Other examples of trouble around parties abound, and so do horror stories by both hosts and guests. A party at a short-term rental in Orinda in 2016 left a man in critical condition. Earlier this month, police had to break up a party of 400 people at an Airbnb in Ohio, leading to Bay Village city officials passing an ordinance last week to prohibit short-term rentals of less than 30 days in residential districts. And in September, the town of Cherry Hill in New Jersey banned Airbnbs after numerous complaints about parties at a home formerly owned by boxing legend Muhammad Ali.