New technology can stop obnoxiously loud Airbnb parties

For an Airbnb host renting out their home a big fear is property damage. For a neighborhood where someone is renting out their home through Airbnb a big fear is raucous, loud parties.

There was a famous one in Jackson, New Jersey, where a large home was rented out through Airbnb and wound up with a party that reached 700 people. Not only was it loud and rowdy, this was in 2020 when Murphy's executive order prohibited gatherings of such size. Let's just say police were not pleased.

So what's an Airbnb host to do if someone rents promising no parties then unbeknownst to the homeowner it gets out of hand and noise complaints are phoned in? There's an answer. And Airbnb is making it available.

Partnering with a company called Minut, Airbnb will offer a free sensor and a free 3-month subscription for noise and occupancy monitoring. The technology lets both the host and guest know sound decibels go above a certain limit. The limit is set by the host.

The best part is no guest can truly complain about this because the system cannot record or send sound or conversations. So no privacy issues. It simply tells if the guests are being too loud whether it's music, yelling, etc.

“Our mission is to support Hosts in caring for their homes, guests and communities, and our partnership with Airbnb plays an important part in that mission,” says Minut CEO & Co-founder Nils Mattison. “We’re excited to extend it with our new offer and integration, which make noise monitoring more accessible and more efficient for Hosts worldwide.”

In case you're wondering, placement of the sensors in bedrooms is not allowed even though it couldn't tell just what kind of sound you'd be making. They'd just know there were some serious bedroom decibels happening. If you know what I mean.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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