11-year-old Airbnb is finally growing up.
During a conference on Wednesday, CEO Brian Chesky announced the company's plans to verify all 7 million of its listings to give customers "peace of mind," The New York Times reports.
The long-awaited updates were galvanized by last week's mass shooting — at a so-called "party-house" in Orinda, California, rented through Airbnb — that left 5 people dead, CNBC notes. The party was advertised on Instagram as "Airbnb Mansion Party," and mostly attracted college students, while the victims were all under 30, including a 19-year-old girl, ABC News reports.
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In a company-wide email, Chesky said "trust is the real energy that drives Airbnb" and pledged to "do everything possible," including launching a new 24/7 Neighbor Hotline, and manually screening suspicious "high-risk reservations." And according to Reuters, the company banned unauthorized "party-houses" altogether earlier this week.
On the other hand, the Airbnb CEO also tweeted the short-term rental giant's new plans to ensure that all its listings are advertised accurately, and fully refund customers if listings were inaccurate, after a recent Vice News investigation uncovered a "nationwide web of deception."
Despite the sweeping safety measures, Chesky did still mention that "two million people a night stay in Airbnbs," and so "it's hard to prevent every bad thing happening," the Times notes.
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