Global vacation house rental large Airbnb has known as on Barcelona’s mayor to rethink a choice to widen the crackdown on short-term leases, arguing that it solely advantages the lodge sector and that it has failed to handle points corresponding to overtourism and a housing disaster.
“The only winner from Barcelona’s war on short-term rentals is the hotel industry,” Airbnb’s head of Policy for Spain and Portugal, Sara Rodriguez, wrote in a letter to Mayor Jaume Collboni despatched over the weekend and seen by Reuters.
Barcelona metropolis corridor didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In June, Collboni introduced a plan to close all short-term leases by 2028 to include hovering rents for residents. The measure is being challenged in court docket.
Airbnb argued in its letter that none of Barcelona’s earlier measures that had imposed strict limits on new vacationer lodging licenses within the metropolis heart since 2014 proved to be efficient.
“A decade later, official data shows that while short-term rentals numbers have fallen, challenges related to housing and over-tourism are worse than ever,” it stated.
It cited official information displaying long-term rents have soared greater than 70%, and the typical value of a lodge room has elevated by greater than 60%, even because the variety of short-term rental properties halved to eight,842 final yr from 2020 ranges.
Meanwhile, it was argued that Spain has constructed fewer homes previously decade than ever since 1970 regardless of a pointy enhance in demand. Official information additionally identified that vacant properties outnumbered short-term leases by eight to 1 in Barcelona.
“Policies that address this issue (vacant homes) are more likely to boost affordable housing supply than clamping down on Airbnb,” the corporate stated, including that it had eliminated over 7,000 listings from its platform since 2018 in Barcelona.
While Collboni has stated he’ll hold a ban on constructing new motels within the metropolis heart, he needs new lodge capability elsewhere in Barcelona.
Spain’s journey trade affiliation Exceltur, which teams main lodge chains, journey brokers, tour operators and airways, has lobbied for sturdy regulation on short-term rental platforms since 2022, describing the growth of vacation properties as “out of control” in Spanish cities.
A lot of different cities, corresponding to Madrid and Malaga, have additionally utilized restrictions this yr.
Source: www.dailysabah.com