Spain: Airbnb urges Barcelona to reevaluate new regulations

International short-term rental platform Airbnb has called on the mayor of Barcelona to reconsider extending the measure to restrict short-term rentals, arguing that they benefit the hotel industry while failing to address over-tourism and the housing crisis.

“The only winner from Barcelona’s war on short-term rentals is the hotel industry,” Airbnb’s head of policy for Spain and Portugal, Sarah Rodriguez, said in a letter to Mayor Jaume Colboni sent over the weekend and seen by Reuters. Barkleone’s city hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In June, Colboni announced a plan to shut down all short-term rentals by 2028 to limit rent increases for city residents. This measure has been challenged in the courts. In its letter, Airbnb argued that none of Barcelona’s previous measures, which had imposed strict restrictions on new guest permits for tourists in the city centre since 2014, had proved effective.

“A decade later, official figures show that while short-term rentals have declined, the challenges associated with housing and over-tourism are worse than ever, it said.

The letter cites official figures showing that long-term rentals have increased by more than 70% and the average price of a hotel room by at least 60% even as the number of short-term rentals halved to 8,842 last year compared to 2020 levels.

Meanwhile, the letter argues, Spain has built fewer homes in the last decade than at any time since 1970 despite a rapid increase in demand, even citing official figures showing that in Barcelona empty homes outnumber short-term rentals by eight to one.

“Policies that address this issue, namely empty homes, are more likely to increase the supply of affordable housing than restrictions on Airbnb.” the company noted, adding that, since 2018, it has removed more than 7,000 listings from its platform in Barcelona.

While Colboni has said he will maintain a ban on building new hotels in the city centre, he wants more hotel availability elsewhere in Barcelona.

Exceltur, the association made up of Spain’s largest tourism businesses (major hotel chains, tour operators, tour operators and airlines) is seeking strict regulation of short-term rental property companies from 2022, calling the boom in short-term rental housing in Spanish cities “uncontrollable”.

Other Spanish cities, such as Madrid and Malaga, imposed restrictions on this type of rentals this year.

The post Spain: Airbnb urges Barcelona to reevaluate new regulations appeared first on ProtoThema English.