House Parties

[Deanna36]

Hi everyone,

I was thinking about renting a house or an apartment to host a birthday party, but I am having a hard time finding a host willing to accept one that is also within my budget.

I am willing to clean up or pay someone to clean up if the house becomes a mess and I do not plan to make it a necessarily a "project X" party.

[Heather738]

Personally, since I am looking for an Airbnb to book for my reception, there are extenuating circumstances. For example, my father is incredibly ill and he’s housebound. I simply cannot put that amount of stress on him to have our event in his home. We also have 2 large dogs that many people may be frightened of that we can’t just “get rid of” for the day. Since my wedding and reception are being planned last minute, a lot of places are either booked or charging extreme prices that my fiancé and I would like to use towards a little baby honeymoon rather than a place for people to sit and converse after we say “I do” and eat. By renting an Airbnb house, we’re also able to cut down on food costs by buying and preparing everything ourselves instead of some restaurant forcing their prices on us. We’d also be staying there a few extra days to not only ensure that the house would be in supreme condition and extraordinarily clean but also so we can have some time together in peace before going back home and back to reality. You never know what the situations are so you can never assume that we’re there to destroy your house. We simply just want a nice place that’s going to be a decent price for a few days rather than just a few hours. 

[Kimbella0]

Some people live in apartments and it’s not the space more the environment to have people there. 

[Ned-And-Laura0]

There are a few airbnb listings that specialize in events and parties.  Most are wedding venues and such that use airbnb as a secondary marketing platform.  Not sure what your budget is but that might be a better way to go.  I was searching for a venue for my wedding reception a few years ago, I got a similar response from individual home owners....no parties allowed.  I did find a couple venues like I mentioned, most were a bit out of my price range though.

[Sam267]

i host parties all the time, i charge per head and provide personal security. my costs depend on the time of year and possible risk factors. you just have to find the hosts willing to do so, cash is king. read their profiles and such to get an idea of what they are like.

[Tim2135]

Let me know when you come toward Western North Carolina. I'm trying to get this kind of niche working here. I have contacts with bars, food trucks and venues but I'm also trying to get my own spot up. Great opportunity

[Jamie335]

Just to put my two cents in.

Some of us don't have space in our homes.

Sometimes the party isn't in our hometown.

We don't want to stay up all night cleaning after working very hard to put together a party so cleaning the next day after some sleep would be nice and more efficient.

Sometimes our party guest are not 21+ so bars are out of the question.

Lots of venues don't allow outside food so that's more money.

Most venues start at 300 and go up from there.

You don't have the entire venue to yourself of it's a weekend.

Lastly privacy is a thing. 

If she had a place big enough of her own she wouldn't be here. So don't be rude.

[Becky-and-David0]

The majority of hosts (myself included) have in their listing "no parties/events." We have made exceptions in the past and are no longer doing so because we get burned EVERY SINGLE TIME. Each time, the guests have made all the promises and been polite in correspondence but have been absolutely disrespectful with how they left our property. There must be some sort of misconception that paying a cleaning fee means that as a guest, you can leave a house a disgusting wreck. That cleaning fee covers general cleaning as well as laundering towels and linens. It does not cover scrubbing of burnt-on food on the stove, cake frosting smears, collecting & popping balloons strewn about, or solo cups left out, nor does it cover moving furniture back to where it belongs (we've had to move our heavy sleeper sofa after one birthday party,) etc. We like to give people the benefit of the doubt but unfortunately, there has been a trend with birthday parties that makes it not worth it to us. My suggestion to guests is to find a venue that will cater to your event; if you do find someone that will rent to you, be respectful.

[Huma0]

@Becky-and-David0

You are absolutely right. This is actually one of the reasons I switched from long-term lodgers to Airbnb.  I have had all sorts of antics here including drugs (doing lines of cocaine on the stove, anyone?), sex parties, industrial sized speaker systems, gatecrashers, upset neighbours and a lot of damage.

The booking guest can be as polite and reassuring as they like, but at the end of the day, they will not be able to control how every party guest will be behave because those guests do  not have any incentive to behave within the specified limits and be careful with someone's property when they have no connection to it. Nor does the party host want to tell them to behave themselves. They don't want to ruin their own party by telling their guests to pipe down.

A housemate asked if she could have a few friends round for dinner and I said sure. Instead, 30 people turned up for a loud, late night party and stuff was damaged, including antique furniture. No matter how many times I asked she would not get her guests to quiten down nor did she replace/repair the damaged items as requested. She told me she had not expected all these people to come, but she clearly had no intention of hosting a dinner party because this girl loved to cook and yet did not shop nor cook anything beforehand. Her friends brought all the party food with them.

Another housemate asked if it was okay to have some friends round for brunch while I was away on a work trip. As soon as I got back I knew he had thrown a party. They had tried to clean up, but forgot the dining table where there was still evidence of plenty of drug taking. The recycling bin had about 30 empty bottles of vodka in it. 

And those are the tamest parties my housemates threw here!

If the people you live with (who have paid a substantial deposit) are more concerned with their friends having a blast than with damaging your home, upsetting your neighbours and more, why should some total stranger Airbnb guest who has not even paid a deposit care?

[L53]

Unfortunately, I must concur.  Just had a large group out of Atlanta book our home for an adult birthday celebration.  Spoke with group on the phone, they sounded respectful and even their social media (I check) look legit.  Well, this group TRASHED my home, which is designated NON-SMOKING, guess they thought lighting up a joint wasn't included in this prohibition.  Found drugs, ashes and filth all over my beautiful, classy home.  They didn't bother to wash any of the dishes, left them strewn all over the counters, fried fish to try to mask the weed smell, leaving kitchen a greasy mess, with cookware full of grease left on stove, left more than 20 bags of trash, the list goes on...These type of people ruin it for any respecful, legit renter who wants to have a quiet family birthday party.  NEVER AGAIN! 

[Noel102]

You left out glitter and confetti.  Ask me how I know ...

[Susan17]

@Jamie0 

Not quite as rude as throwing a big party in someone else's home when you've been expressly told it's strictly forbidden, like you just did in your host Marciela's home, is it? And your response to her review is a whole other level of arrogant, entitled and deluded... 

[Huma0]

Wow @Jamie0

I just looked at your profile and the review from the host in whose property you threw a party even though it was strictly prohibited. Your incredibly long response to her review does you no favours. How can you think that entertaining 25 people (if it was 25 as you say and not actually more) in her place is okay when you knew you were not allowed to have events there?

It doesn't matter if you tried to clean up, what this item or that item that you left behind was for or that there was a toddler there, what check in/out times were or if there was traffic outside. It's all completely irrelevant. You were dishonest and took advantage, plain and simple. You might not be aware of it, but by bringing unauthorised people into the property, you violated Airbnb's policy and invalidated the Airbnb insurance for both yourself and your host.

I would not host you in a million years.

[Kimbella0]

Love what you said!

[Angel248]

I've booked  1 house multiple time becuase they allow partys I booked it for my child's 3rd birthday sleep over and I booked it for my 30th in which I had a game night..all partys dnt been loud music people being wild and hanging out etc... it could just be a small gathering..with a few friends drinks...some good food and good music!! 

[Sushi31]

@Angel248 Where is this house? Do you know of any other hosts that allow parties?