Heading into Halloween weekend, Airbnb is again trying to shut down what it expects to be loud parties before they happen.
The lodging platform says its anti-party technology stopped 275 people from booking a place in the Chicago area last Halloween.
Airbnb Public Policy Manager Jonathan Buckner says they look at when users try to book and the distance between where they live and the homes are in determining what’s likely to be a party.
He says Halloween is comparable with New Year’s Eve, 4th of July and other holidays where Airbnb sees an increase in bookings that are high-risk for disrupting neighbors.
If one slips past the company and neighbors are bothered by loud noises and large crowds, he encourages them to reach out on Airbnb’s safety line.
Nationally, they deterred about 23,500 bookings for Halloween last year.
Despite that, Buckner says parties are rare and were reported only 0.1% of the time in Illinois in 2025.
