Airbnb launches crackdown on low-quality listings

Global holiday rental giant Airbnb has launched a crackdown on low-quality listings by removing more than 100,000 properties worldwide in a bid to clean up its platform and address what it says can sometimes be a below-par experience for guests.

The company announced the measures on Tuesday alongside a new tool for Australian councils to track the number of Airbnb properties in local areas as state governments, including NSW, mull new levies on short-term stays to address an ongoing housing crisis.

Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand.Credit: AFR

Airbnb Australia and New Zealand managing director Susan Wheeldon said that the mass removal of properties was the largest in the company’s history.

“We want to make sure that every guest has a great stay, so we’ve removed just over 100,000 listings, which is the largest set of removals that we’ve ever done,” Wheeldon said.

“We’ve also built a whole lot of tools to prevent those properties from being re-listed, and to help us make sure that those that are on our platform are accurate and provide a good guest experience.”

The figure of more than 100,000 is a global number and Airbnb did not disclose how many Australian properties had been removed. Wheeldon said Australian Airbnb properties were included in the worldwide total.

Airbnb has argued that some regulatory policies have not been backed up by data.Credit: Getty

“We own a shop and anyone can sell whatever they want in the shop. So this is about us making sure that if you come to Airbnb, you know you’re getting quality, and you know that you’re getting what you paid for,” she said.

“Part of that is ensuring that those low-quality listings are removed because, as you would appreciate, a guest who has a poor first experience is less likely to come back for a second.”

Other features announced by Airbnb on Tuesday include changes to reduce host cancellations, including firmer consequences for cancellations that could have been avoided, and “verified listings”, including new photo and video verifications to ensure a home matches its description.

Airbnb is also deploying a new tool dubbed City Portal that it says will help local governments access data on short-term rentals in their area.

The US-based company has been wrestling with Australian state governments over levies on short-stays in recent months, including in Victoria, which last year announced a 7.5 per cent levy as part of plans to address its housing crisis.

The NSW government is considering following Victoria’s lead and introducing a levy.

Airbnb has argued that some regulatory policies, including short-term stay levies, have not been backed up by data.

This masthead revealed last month that almost 50,000 entire dwellings are listed as short-stay rentals in Victoria rather than being available to long-term renters – making up 1.6 per cent of the state’s housing stock. The figures were detailed in a peer-reviewed report by consulting firm Urbis, which found a “weak positive correlation” between the number of dwellings listed on Airbnb and areas where rental prices were being hiked or took up a high portion of people’s income.

A NSW discussion paper released last month found that in January, there were about 52,300 homes registered for short-term rental accommodation across the state, while at the same time the cost of private rentals across the NSW has soared and vacancy rates remain near historic low levels.

“I’m incredibly passionate about data-led decision-making, and quite often decisions that have been made in the short-term rental regulation space aren’t necessarily based on data,” Wheeldon said.

“We support levies of between 3 to 5 per cent, and what they’ve done in Victoria is something that we do support, which is then using that money to pay for social and affordable housing. That is something that we absolutely support, and probably want that standing alongside statewide registration and codes of conduct.”

Wheeldon said Airbnb was a key economic driver in areas with significant tourism and seasonal economies.

“The portal allows those local governments to actually have the data about what’s going on in their regions, so who’s staying, how long they’re staying for, where they’re spending,” she said.

“We know that people do quite often over-inflate the impact of short-term rentals because of the confusion between a primary place of residence or an investment property, and so this allows those local governments to have that data, particularly where we don’t have statewide regulations in place today.”

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