Airbnb has announced that it will no longer allow under-25s to book party houses in their local area, to try to prevent potential violence.
The new rules, which prohibit under-25s from booking party houses, are being implemented by Airbnb following a shooting at a Toronto Airbnb booking last week in which three people were killed.
Last week, three men aged 19, 20 and 21 were shot dead at a flat in Toronto while earlier in January, an 18-year-old was also killed at an Airbnb-rented house in Ottawa.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said the new policies being piloted in Canada were still not enough. Her called for the company to speed up the implementation of new rules governing short-term rentals in the city which he said would provide a "significant contribution to cutting down... dangerous activities".
According to the company, violence happens only with a very small percentage of bookings but the numbers go up at reservations booked locally by young people. It plans to implement the new rules globally if it proves successful.
New Airbnb rules in Canada
Under the new rules, Canadians of any age will still be able to book rooms in other people's houses and hotel rooms but users under the age of 25 will only be able to book whole properties if they have a track record of positive reviews on Airbnb.
Airbnb senior vice president Chris Lehane explained that the objective of the new rules is to reduce the use of Airbnb properties for "unauthorised parties".
He said: "We have a 0.3% incident rate across our platform when it comes to issues involving property damage and a 0.6% incident rate when it involves personal security issues."
"Those numbers get higher when you're looking at... reservations made by people under 25... within the community they live in," he pointed out.
Airbnb will also launch a 24-hour neighborhood support telephone hotline, so neighbors can report their concerns.
