AirBnB controversy carries on.

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
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CSE
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AirBnB controversy carries on.

Post by CSE »

I can understand that cities have a great deal of pressure to try and keep housing for those who want to live in the location. I can understand the idea that it is considered your part of freedom to do what you wish with your property.
This aiming at just one portal is not ideal.
However from this in The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... ampaigners
Chose to look up who formed the Group. European Holiday Home Association
I would have been very pleased to have read that it was a platform for the voice of independent holiday home owners. Unfortunately it is not.
http://ehha.eu/members/
Whilst I am writing about AirBnB I will add this link too.
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/spain- ... -last-week
At the moment it does seem that anti AirBnB issue is affecting only the larger cities.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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cleanforum
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Post by cleanforum »

I think that if the homes are regulated (registered etc) and duly taxed then the AirBnB boom would regulate itself, the tax man would be happy and the tourists unaffected.

This is the responsibilty for central govemnments to carry out . We would all in turn reap the rewards with more money for public services.

Am I being naive?
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Post by Mouse »

In the Balearics the main voice against private rentals (here they term it air bnb but mean all private rental portals) has always been the Hoteliers association. That's what has driven the laws and regulations. However because the local population has finally caught up with private holiday rental this means that they prefer to earn money that way rather than long term rentals. Who can blame them. However that has limited supply of long term rentals and so this has driven prices to a ridiculous level. I have personally seen advertisements for a bed in a shared room for 700 euros. So now the general population is jumping up and down. People can no longer afford to come here to work as they can't afford the accommodation.

I think you're right cleanforum. Had holiday rental properties been taxed it would have reduced the numbers. It's seen as easy money. Now however the law requiring details of owners to be passed on by the OTAs to the authorities might scare a few off. ...given that most here are illegal.

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Post by Teguise »

The situation is the same here in the Canaries. They have announced a decree today that will outlaw holiday rentals in the main resorts on larger islands such as Lanzarote. Pleasing the hotel lobby whilst also angering locals, as self catering tourism is pushed out into more rural areas.
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Post by CSE »

Is this not really a case they said I say is it? It must go deeper than that?


You have to admit cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona plus one or two other cites have huge problem with over tourism.
Amsterdam is taking control of many issues
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/05/a ... rk-isation
Look at this chaos in the canals of the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b0VvKXAxEo
If however the likes of portals* took greater responsibility in there own actions, put a stop to listing to properties that are outside of any local regulation, stop trying to selling this as a sharing community issue too. After all they are taking money from you and sometimes your clients too. It is not as if the services these portal offer are for free. They have a business to run. Question is are they acting greedy?
That gets nicely onto the * above. When you read quite a number of comments in the forum it comes across as if some members have issues with portals. They take a cut from the money you charge, they do not list correctly your property, they trick searches so somehow some end up at the rear of the queue.

It is actually financially an advantage to rent out long time in Spain given the tax breaks and all year round income. No change overs every week. Plus no longer having to comply with local by-laws, National or EU wide ones either.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Pleasing the hotel lobby whilst also angering locals
So no "local" works in in any sector of tourism other then renting out their other properties to their main one?
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Post by COYS »

I'd agree with casasantoestevo that all of the major portals should & can take responsibility for the listings they accept. The notion that it is a sharing community is now far removed from it's original basis & has exponentially increased casual rentals, many of whom choose to operate unlicensed & therefore unregulated. Like Mouse says, it is seen as easy money & indeed that is exactly what the portal in question promotes.
Locally I'd guess 50+ houses/villas have been built recently. Sales are almost non existent so they mostly end up as summer rentals. Licensing is an expensive, drawn out bureaucratic nightmare & supposedly density limited so there is no way many could gain it - so they don't bother.
Were you required to verify your legality before publishing on the rental portals it wouldn't make that money seem quite so easy to come by for a start. Unfortunately the rental portals only see volume of ads as cash so I can't see them kicking too many into touch just yet. However if more cities/towns suffering genuine negative effects started showing dissent it would at least draw focus to the issue.
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Post by CSE »

Coys,
Never thought about the processes of licencing.
I expect some countries are worse than others at the amount of paperwork one has to do to obtain permissions. That is somewhere where "authorities" can help smooth the process. But (I can only talk of Spain) one can only dream of a simplified registration process.
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Post by KAB-Dennis »

I know it may not be of interest as most of the members are in the EU but Boston MA (USA) just cracked down on investor properties in the city that are being offered as Airbnb rentals. Many here are beside themselves with the new ruling.
Fair enough.... they are taking away valuable housing/inventory from being occupied by residents so it is hard to make fair.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/06/13/a ... gulations/
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Post by Mouse »

Last week I heard of sItuition that has resulted in a private individual suing air bnb.

In short they rented out their apartment to a long term tenant. That tenant then sub let it (even though their contract stated 'no sub lets'). Then the people they had sublet to, sublet again.
The final tenants then advertised it on air bnb and the subsequent 'guests' p'd off the other owners in the apartment complex plus caused damage.

When discovered they went for eviction and the legal process is slowly grinding to get them removed. In the meantime they're still letting it out to tourists.
So air bnb wee contacted, along with TA and HA, and asked to remove the advert. Not only do the advertisers not own the property, they are there illegally and apartments in Ibiza can not be rented out to tourists.
Both TA and HA removed the advert. Air bnb refused. Several attempts were made to make them see sense, and at one point the advert was removed....but then went live again 6 hrs later.
They're now refusing to do anything.
He has instructed his lawyer to begin proceedings against air bnb. He is frantic to stop his place being used in this way.

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Post by KAB-Dennis »

Wow Mouse!!
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Post by zebedee »

KAB-USA wrote
I know it may not be of interest as most of the members are in the EU but Boston MA (USA) just cracked down on investor properties in the city that are being offered as Airbnb rentals. Many here are beside themselves with the new ruling.
Fair enough.... they are taking away valuable housing/inventory from being occupied by residents so it is hard to make fair.
The impact on local housing was exactly the argument on TV adverts in New York last week. Aimed specifically at AirBNB who were the company named.
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