Map reveals how Airbnb rentals have surged in Dorset, Peak District and ... trends now

Residents on quiet suburban streets have suffered sleepless nights after so-called Airbnb 'party houses' popped up in their neighbourhoods as rowdy guests choose rural holiday hotspots over city pads.

Some locals in Dorset, where Airbnb listings have increased by 36 per cent in the three years to July 2022, say raucous clientele have littered their roads with beer cans and 'hippy crack' gas canisters, while others have seen topless hen do parties since Covid restrictions eased.

It comes as a map has revealed how Airbnb is taking over Britain's holiday hotspots, with the Peak District, Dorset and Shropshire and Herefordshire all experiencing a surge in listings since Covid.

The Peak District saw its Airbnb listings increase by 37 per cent in the three years to July 2022, the largest jump out of all holiday destinations, according to data from AirDNA.

Dorset saw the second biggest growth (36 per cent), while Shropshire and Herefordshire, another staycation hotspot, saw a 29 per cent rise in listings.

Other trending locations that are seeing more Airbnb listings pop up are Norfolk, Kent, Gloucester and Cheltenham, and the Lake District. 

Suffolk, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and Sussex, also saw a boom in listings between July 2019 and July 2022. 

The cities of Bristol, Bath, Brighton and London, that have previously tended to fare well with hen and stag do parties, all saw a decline in Airbnb listings in the same time period.

Parties on Airbnb have been banned since 2020, and since it introduced its zero-tolerance policy there has been a 63 per cent drop in the number of party reports in the UK.

It has also removed or suspended more than 1,000 listings in the UK as part of a crackdown on party houses, many of which are also advertised on other booking platforms.

Short-term rentals have sprung up in the affluent waterside community of Sandbanks, leaving locals at their wits end over loud music blaring from speakers at all hours. 

Earlier this month, a university couple were fined for breaching lockdown rules after hosting a birthday party that led to a £2 million Airbnb Sandbanks mansion on Panorama Road being trashed in March 2021.

There were reports of drug paraphernalia and laughing gas canisters being left behind.

The property's owner, businessman Nick Briant, told the court it cost 'about £1,000 of deep cleaning, cleaning carpets and repainting walls' to fix the damage. 

The local resident said that Panorama Road, where the notorious party Airbnb was held, was littered with 'nitrous oxide canisters everywhere and industrial fireworks debris in the road' afterwards.

 'A lot of it is people on holiday so they don't give a damn,' she continued.

'They don't appreciate that people actually live here and have jobs to get up for or babies they are trying to get to sleep.'

The property's owner Mr Briant told MailOnline: 'We have literally just had that one party and nothing else since then. 

'The nitrous gas canisters are from that one party, that is the only time it’s happened.

'Since then we have changed the text in the listing to deter any parties.

'We also send an email as soon as you book stating if you have booked this for a party you must cancel now and then another similar email before they arrive. 

'Since we implemented these changes there has never been another issue again.'

Airbnb said they investigated the party report at the time and the guest was banned from the platform, while the host was provided support. 

Elsewhere in Sandbanks, one woman who did not want to be named for fear of repercussions, described what it was like to live near a 'party house' on Seacombe Road.

The middle-aged woman said: 'I've been laying in bed at midnight and heard people partying. I've gone out and banged on the wall or fence and said some of us are trying to sleep.

'This one has not been too bad but the trouble is there are so many of them around here.'

Airbnb said it had not received any issues relating to this listing from the host, guests or neighbours and it had not seen any evidence to suggest the reported concerns are linked to Airbnb stays.

The next door neighbour of another short-term rental in a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, has told of the shenanigans which have previously gone on there, including topless hen parties in the last couple of years when it became a short-term rental.

The seven-bedroom property, which can be rented out for up to £900-a-night, is fitted out with a hot tub, games room and cinema room.

Adrian Rawlings, 71, a retired school caretaker, has lived in a detached home on a busy road in Wallisdown for more than 30 years.

About five years ago, the property next door was converted into a modern short-term rental.

Mr Rawlings said the previous owner of the home did not vet who stayed there and there were many stag do and hen parties which kept him and his wife up all night.

The party house was sold last year and although the new owner has kept it as an Airbnb, he is careful to only rent it out to families, Mr Rawlings said. 

Under the previous ownership on one occasion, his wife was awoken by screaming at 2am and she looked out of the landing window which overlooks the party house.

To her shock, there was a group of women in their 20s jumping topless into the hot tub.

Mr Rawlings said: 'There was no vetting so stag dos and hen parties would keep us up all night playing drunken games.

'My wife looked out the landing window at 2am one particularly rowdy night and there was a group of women diving topless into the hot tub.