Airbnb releases neighbourhood hotline, encourages hosts to install noise monitors

Thestar.com
Feb. 13, 2020
Tess Kalinowski

Airbnb has released its neighbourhood hotline number and is encouraging its hosts to install noise monitors as part of the short-term rental platform’s ban on party houses.

Starting Monday, Canadian residents with concerns about disturbances, including house parties, can call 855-635-7754 to speak with someone about the issue.

“While emergencies and safety incidents should always be reported to local authorities, this additional urgent communication channel aims to address both immediate disturbances as well as long-term issues within the community,” the company said in a press release Wednesday.

Residents can also report issues and link to problematic listings at airbnb.ca/neighbours.

The phone line is part of a party house ban that began in the U.S. last November following the death of five people at a California rental at Halloween. But Airbnb stepped up its measures last week after three men were killed at a Jan. 31 party in a downtown Toronto condo that was rented on the platform.

Airbnb has also arranged for its hosts to receive a discount on three different noise monitoring devices. The monitors that sell for between $50 and $260, plus subscription fee, detect sound but don’t record. The devices measure the decibel level in the home in real-time and flag the landlord if the levels get too high, Airbnb said.

“Even though it does not record, we do tell our hosts to disclose it in their listing description, like we do with cameras, so that everyone is aware,” the company said in an email.

Last Thursday, San Francisco-based vice-president of policy and communications Chris Lehane flew to Toronto to announce a crackdown on party houses, including a partial ban on Canadian renters under 25. The platform will no longer allow people under that age to rent an entire home in their own community unless they already have an established track record on Airbnb.

But short-term rental critics say the measures aren’t enough -- that if Airbnb is serious about safety, it needs to immediately comply with the bylaw provisions that Toronto is hoping to implement by the fall. Those new rules would require Airbnb hosts to register with the city and pay an accommodation tax. Landlords would be prohibited from renting out entire homes, including condos, that are not their principal residence.

Lehane said Airbnb will comply once the bylaw is fully implemented. Toronto’s bylaw is still being challenged in court by a group of landlords, who want a review of a provincial tribunal decision that upheld the city’s regulations.