@Lydia396 The policy has been in place for some time. It isn't breaking any rules for you to try to book a place- it's just that the Airbnb algorithm will prevent you from booking under certain parameters. What would be breaking the rules is misrepresenting your intentions and throwing a party or getting loud and disturbing the neighbors if you told the host you were just looking for a mellow holiday with 3 friends.
If you book well in advance, and it's a place out-of-town, and it's booked for several nights, hopefully that algorithm won't kick in.
Just make sure, if you are new to Airbnb, that you thoroughly read through the listing description and house rules, and have good communication with the host and ask about expectations as far as what the host wants guests to do before checking out in terms of clean-up. Airbnb guests are generally expected to clean up their own messes, wash their dirty dishes, make sure all garbage is properly disposed of, etc. Respect the furnishings- don't eat pizza on the bed or spill wine on the couch. If you do get a stain on something, don't try to remove it yourself- you could make it worse. Let the host know- most hosts have methods of getting things clean and will not likely be mad as long as you don't try to hide the evidence or just leave without mentioning it.
Don't book a non-smoking place if any of you smoke.
If there's a cleaning fee, that's not for the host to clean up your personal mess- it's to cover the heavy duty cleaning the host does, wash the sheets and towels, etc. Many guests don't understand that.
Also take some time to write up something about yourself on your profile account page as well as upload ID and face photo. Because you are a new user and have no reviews, a booking will be more apt to be accepted if you don't seem like just some anonymous stranger.