Spain has been living for years in a free bar of tourist floors, so in May, the Ministry of Consumer He pressed a red button against Airbnband activated it in more than 65,000 floors that considered that they breached legislation. The reasons? Do not include license, include a erroneous, or lack all the necessary information. The government finally has achieved its goalalthough it has a new almost equally ambitious.
Goodbye to 65,000 floors. The Ministry of Consumption led by Pablo Bustinduy has announced that Airbnb has retired the more than 65,000 illegal ads whose elimination had been demanding for months. Three resolutions had been sent from the Ministry, and They specified That “in all cases these are complete housing for tourist use, no individual room ads appear”
Yes, but. After this first batch that has ended the publications outside the platform, the Consumer Analysis Unit has communicated the existence of another 54,728 illegal ads that do not have “rental registration number”, the tuition that since July 1 they need to announce and operate on platforms such as Booking or Airbnb.
The government has been firm on its road map, and has announced That will not stop: “The Consumer Analysis Unit will continue working to identify and report potential illegal ads on different digital platforms specialized in the rental of tourist accommodations.”
The problems for Airbnb are not over. In the absence of knowing if after the agreement with Housing Airbnb it will proceed with this new list of ads as with the more than 65,000 retired ads, the company is still immersed in problems with the Bustinduy Ministry.
At the end of the year, consumption opened a sanctioning file to the company, for illicit advertising (ads without license number). It remains subject to a formal investigation that can end in an economic sanction if the infractions attributed to them are confirmed. In that case, it faces fines of up to 100,000 euros, although according to the file, it can become between 4 and 6 times higher than the money obtained with illegal practices.
Justice supports government (for the moment). After requesting the elimination of the more than 65,000 ads, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid had backed twice that Airbnb withdraw with immediate effect 5,800 ads.
Despite the requested precautionary measures, the company was forced to eliminate these ads, located in Andalusia, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Valencian Community and the Basque Country. The reason for not stopping the legal procedure was that the court did not consider that there were “irreparable damages” for Airbnb.
A consequence of the war to Airbnb: more expensive hotels. Barcelona has been limiting tourist floors since 2014, looking for the rental market. However, the rental price has not stopped in the city: 72% shot from that date until 2023. But also The price of hotels has risen: 8% from 2023 to 2024 and 30% since 2019.
From Xataka we have contacted Airbnb to know its position on the new government application. We will update if we receive more information.
Image | Kaspars Upmanis in Unspash
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