Short-term rentals have surged in Dorset, Peak District and Shropshire (2023)

A map reveals how Airbnb and other short-term rentals have been taking over Britain's holiday hotspots since Covid, with the number of staycation venues surging in once-quiet places including Dorset and the Peak District.

Residents on quiet suburban streets have described scenes of bedlam in the three years since the pandemic triggered a spike in staycation holidays - and with it, a growing number of holiday lets.

Locals say that in recent years they have been forced to endure rowdy guests inhaling 'hippy crack', setting off fireworks at all hours, and drunken, topless women partying in hot tubs during raucous hen dos.

According to data compiled by the short-term rental analysis firm AirDNA and provided to MailOnline, the number of such listings in Dorset increased by 36 per cent in the three years to July last year, while those in thePeak District increased by 37 per cent in the same period. This marked the largest jump out of all holiday destinations, according to the data.

Dorset's was the second biggest growth, 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, Cheltenham and the Lake District.

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

Bristol, Bath, Brighton and London, which were previously popular with hen and stag do parties, saw a decline in listings during the same period.

Parties at Airbnb properties have been banned since 2020 - leading to 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 in Dorset, 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 £2million Airbnb Sandbanks mansion 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 the street outside was littered with 'nitrous oxide canisters everywhere and industrial fireworks debris' afterwards.

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

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 it investigated the party report at the time and the guest was banned from the platform, and the host was provided with 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.

'We have nothing against people getting drunk and having a party but this is not the right place for it.

'If you are in the middle of nowhere then by all means go for it but there are retired people living on this street.'

The property's owner told MailOnline: 'We carefully vet our guests to ensure we don't get stags, hens or other parties.

'We also have lots of other measures in place including a Minut noise sensor in the garden that links to an app alerting us to contact guests to prevent them disturbing neighbours.

'We have strict house rules and nobody is allowed to use the garden after 10pm. The hot tub and outdoor lights automatically switch off at this time.

'I'm glad that Adrian and Lynn informed you how much things have improved since we bought the house, as this is what they've also said to us.

'We've made an effort to get to know the neighbours on the other side too who tell us they've not been disturbed.'

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunakannounced a £160million crackdown on anti-social behaviour – with plans including giving landlords powers to evict tenants who disrupt their neighbours and forcing Airbnb hosts to register on a database.

Another popular Airbnb destination is the vibrant south-western city of Bristol, which had more than 4,000 available listings as of July last year.

But one short-term rental, in the northern suburb of Henleaze, had been wreaking havoc on the local community until it was finally put to a stop this year.

Neighbours described how guests who stayed at the end-of-terrace five-bedroom home had made their lives a 'misery'.

The listing was posted on a number of booking platforms, including Booking.com, Bristol Hotels England and Lodging World. Local media reported it was listed on Airbnb but the company said it had no record of it being listed.

Janet Saunders, 76, who has lived on Hobhouse Close in Henleaze for 19 years, said: 'It was horrendous; we had people coming and going, stag parties, beer cans in the streets, noise and more.

'It was really disturbing, I'm a lady of a certain age who lives on her own, and not knowing who was going to turn up, what kind of people they were - you just couldn't be sure. I did not feel safe.

'That has finally stopped now because we all complained. But at the time it was awful. I noticed that the lights would be on all night.'

She added:'We were a quiet, close knit neighbourhood and it was a quite traumatic event for the community.

'There are a lot of elderly residents here, as well as young families.'

'But we never knew who was in that house, who was coming and going, and when you don't know who they are or where they are going - it's a worry if you have young children out there.'

Ms Saunders also said parking had become a nightmare on the close because the Airbnb would cater for up to 10 guests.

Recalling one particularly shocking incident, she said: 'One time, an ambulance had to come for another member of the community.

'Because of the number of cars, the ambulance had to block the road - because they had nowhere else to go.'

'It was just a huge disturbance for the community. At weekends I would genuinely see people arrive and just think 'God, I wonder who will turn up next'.

'I just knew the weekends were going to be a nightmare - and they were.'

Another elderly resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'It was used as a party house to be honest, and we all know what that means these days.

'The people who would visit would stay out until the early hours of the morning. They came in and would disturb what was a very quiet community.

'We often found the road was blocked with parked vehicles - even while mini-busses would turn up with people to stay and park on the road.

'It affected every aspect of the community.

The owners of the property were forced to end its current use and halve the maximum number of occupants who could stay.

It come after complaints from local residents, who were exasperated by nuisance guests that would drink, fight, shout and play loud music late into the night.

Nick Druro, 66, who has lived at Hobhouse Close for 25 years said the influx of unwanted guests had changed the road for the worse.

He saidthat the community had a reputation 'for being such a lovely development' in the 1970s, even winning an award, 'but unfortunately since then things have really gone downhill.'

'Nobody ever did anything to disturb anyone here for decades and now in the last couple of years everything started to fall apart,' he said.

Analysis has suggested one in every four homes is used for Airbnb in some parts of England.

Airbnb has soared in popularity since homeowners first started renting out their properties with the online service in around 2009.

It has coincided with a boom in the domestic travel industry, with holidaymakers opting to stay in the UK. But there have also been occasions where renters have held parties, in contravention of Airbnb policies.

In 2017, Greater Manchester Police were called when dozens of young people descended on a suburban semi-detached home in Droylsden advertised at just £50 a night.

And more than 50 Met police officers were needed to shut down a 150-strong gathering at an Airbnb property in London in 2020, in contravention of coronavirus curbs.

An Airbnb spokesperson said: 'Parties are banned on Airbnb and we have zero tolerance for anti-social behaviour.

'In the last year alone our industry-leading prevention technology blocked more than 84,000 people from making certain unwanted bookings, and our 24/7 hotline allows neighbours to contact us directly with any concerns which we will investigate.

'We are committed to being good partners and have long supported the introduction of a national short-term lets register to give authorities better visibility of activity in their area.'

All property owners have been contacted for comment.