Airbnb announced on Wednesday that it is blocking all stays in the Washington, DC metropolitan area during the inauguration week, after determining that “numerous individuals who are associated with known hate groups or otherwise involved in criminal activity in the Capitólio ”having a platform account. All existing reservations will be canceled and refunded, no new stays are allowed.
In a blog post on their news site, the Airbnb team cited security issues surrounding the opening:
Airbnb’s work continues to be informed by contributions from our local community, as well as Washington, DC, Metro Police officials and members of Congress throughout this week. In particular, Mayor Bowser, Governor Hogan and Governor Northam made it clear that visitors should not travel to the DC metropolitan area for the inauguration. In addition, we are aware of the reports that emerged yesterday afternoon about well-known armed militias and hate groups that are trying to travel and stop possession.
The announcement came just two days after Airbnb said it would look into any future reservations to track members of hate groups, as well as banning anyone known to have participated in the Mafia attack on the Capitol building last week.
Earlier this week, Airbnb announced that its political fund-raising group would withhold any campaign donations from lawmakers who voted against certifying election results on January 6.