Lay My Hat

Can someone remind me what is the main source of income and thus provides a living for the residents on the Island of Mallorca?

In fairness though this is just about Palma and is in response to the AirBnB effect on house prices and rents. This problem is not just restricted to Palma.

It is a complex problem. There is a sea-change in what people want. People are often having shorter stays and an apartment or room in someone's house offers more flexibility than a hotel and they are going on holiday more often. Malaga was never a holiday destination but has changed dramatically. It seems that every historic derelict building (and there were many) is being developed for apartments. This is fine as the city can effectively expand the housing stock without driving out residents, perhaps unlike Palma from what I can remember when I went there. Our new rental apartment in the centre is in a new block of 123 units where previously there was just a dodgy piece of waste ground. Half are holiday apartments and half are new residents. I can't see a simple answer - I have friends who need to offer bnb facilities in their homes to pay the mortgage.

I have friends who need to offer bnb facilities in their homes to pay the mortgage.

Just wish it was a simple case of oh I know we open a Bed and Breakfast in Spain.
Do hope they go the legal way, obtain a Carnet de Manipulador de Alimentos, electricity inspected every 5 years, health inspection, a book stating Prevención de Riscos Laborais, water tested if you do not have a public supply, run a book on how often you clean the building, ficha técnica on all the chemicals you use for cleaning the house and a few more regulations to which one has to abide by.

Galicia is about to ensure that apartments and whole house lets will have to abide by regulations from the first of May this year. All of Spain is seemly looking at this renting issue.

This is an age-old problem in Spain, made more acute by the fast rise of ABB. When a whole region seeks to ban private holiday rentals, then it smacks of protectionism by the powerful hotel industry. When it's just a specific city or two, the reasons given for the ban become more believable.

Tourism is always a blessing and a problem and I doubt that there's an easy solution.

Ever since the Arab Spring, Spain has been blessed with high demand. Those who might have gone to Turkey, North Africa or Middle East are heading to Spain, along with the growing Russian and Chinese tourist numbers. Spanish regions can afford to ban whatever they like now, and it probably won't hurt. It might hurt in years to come when other parts of the world become more inviting.

That old hotel lobby chestnut is not an argument for several reasons.
1)There are many other problems which influence the case for stopping the unregulated vacation business.
If nothing is done then an area/city/town this is where housing becomes a highly commercialized venture, thus not fit for purpose. This is happening in the likes of Barcelona or Venice, some say this about Amsterdam too.
2) ABnB has gone well away form it's original basis of allowing you to look for and rent a short homestay. They have changed the rules not the people who are looking for somewhere affordable to live.
3) Unlicensed whole lets are also hurting those that have to abide by local bylaws.
4)A few locations are positive in this area it cannot be the just the hotel industry lobbying.
https://skift.com/2016/06/07/airbnb-fin ... struggles/
5)Firms as large as ABnB or TA or whatever, do you not think that they cannot afford to do their own lobbying? Would you not feel that they could be more organized on this issue that a few hotels?
6)As said above one cannot just start a business these days there are regulations and laws to abide by, be it from the EU, the country, or a local bylaw.


Do you prefer to use an UBER or a licensed taxi?

I don't condone what is happening, just saying what is going on. Our (fully registered) rural rental house has been surrounded by dozens of holiday rentals for over 10 years that are neither registered nor, I suspect, declared to Hacienda. The same for the coast covered by the new Vivienda con Fines Turisticos law. Our apartments have just been inspected by the Junta de Andalucia but there are many, many unregulated places and there are few resources to police this (rather like the unreglated rural building in the past).

The problem in Palma and other cities is the demand for holiday apartments is so high and city breaks are increasingly popular. I now would never stay in a hotel for more that 2 nights. If you own an apartment it is tempting to stop renting it for 500€ a month long term and start renting it for 500€ a week for holidays.

As for Uber or a Minicab, given the number of dodgy minicabs I've used late night in London during the nineties, I'd rather go for Uber.

We certainly feel more relaxed that we have a licenses, even with regular inspections.