JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Airbnb recently made a decision to permanently ban house parties for anyone who wants to rent one of their properties.
Action News Jax spoke with homeowners on Jax Beach.
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The majority of them say it should be up to the owner if they want to throw a party or not. But they also believe those parties shouldn’t get out of hand.
“I feel like it’s a part of the culture here,” Matthew Hutcherson said.
Hutcherson, who lives at Jax Beach, says people throwing parties at the beach is common.
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“People throw parties is kind of what the beach is known for doing that,” Hutcherson said.
Airbnb made this temporary policy permanent on Tuesday.
It now bans people from throwing parties on properties that are being rented from their site.
Just two years ago, the company announced a temporary ban in 2020 to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Airbnb officials tell Action News Jax that they’ve seen success in Florida, where there’s been a 67% year-over-year drop in party reports since they established the temporary ban.
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Hutcherson said although he doesn’t have a problem with parties at Airbnb, he believes there should be a limit.
He even said the new policy that Airbnb has established should be up to the owners and not the company.
“If people own the property and rent it out, they can decide themselves,” Hutcherson said.
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We also spoke with Ryle Butler who lives at the beach. He said during holiday weekends it does get a little crazy.
“From an owner’s perspective or an Airbnb or any property of that matter who rents out to the public. If people are getting too rowdy or too much damage, it’s their right to protect themselves,” Butler said.
Butler agrees with Hutcherson that people should be able to have fun, but he said people have to protect their own interests.
“A lot more people, a lot more traffic, people just not acting right sometimes. I guess that just comes with the territory of being on the beach,” Butler said.
We asked for specific numbers of how many disruptive parties Jacksonville saw between 2020 and 2021, but they didn’t get back to us on those answers.
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