NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) – Airbnb is banning “party houses” immediately and stepping up efforts to prevent unauthorised parties at its rentals after a fatal Halloween night shooting in California, chief executive officer Brian Chesky said.

“We are redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorised parties and get rid of the abusive host and guest conduct, including conduct that leads to the terrible events we saw in Orinda,” Chesky said in a series of tweets.

Five people have died as a result of the shooting in Orinda, California, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page.

The shooting occurred at a party, which was advertised on social media and drew more than 100 people from the Bay Area, held in the home found on “a short-term rental website,” it said.

Airbnb is “expanding manual screening of high-risk reservations flagged by our risk detection technology,” and it’s “creating a dedicated ‘party house’ rapid response team,” Chesky said.

He has directed Margaret Richardson to oversee the new team and initiated a 10-day review to kick start the process.

Richardson’s Linkedin page shows she held the position of “vice-president of trust” since September and had previously worked at the Department of Justice.

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