Tag: Niumba

Airbnb Delists 18,000 Andalusian Rental Flats Lacking Registration

5 October 2018

Since Monday, the online short-term rental platform is only displaying properties in Andalusia that are registered with the tourism office, reducing its supply to 40,800 listings.

Beginning this week, the vacation rental giant Airbnb will only display listings for homes in Andalusia that comply with local regulations and have the relevant registration number. The new requirement has led the online platform to eliminate 18,000 listings in Andalusia, reducing the supply in the region to 40,800, the company announced. The new rules are a severe blow to informal offerings in the region which will now no longer be able to advertise on the most important website for holiday rentals. “This unique agreement provides present and future hosts with the security and clarity they need to share their home responsibly,” the company stated.

Although the platform does not have data by province, statistics provided by the Tourism Registry of Andalusia points to a high concentration of tourist apartments on the Costa del Sol, an area that accounts for more than half of the supply of tourist housing for the region as a whole. The latest figures showed that 24,342 tourist apartments were registered in the province of Malaga, equivalent to a total of 127,218 beds.

Airbnb stated that almost half of the 18,000 listing for flats that were delisted for not having the necessary registration with the Tourism Registry of Andalusia had not had any reservations in the last year. The rest operated normally, despite not complying with the regulation. Airbnb’s new requirement served to remove those offerings from the market. That became possible after the company reached a compromise with the local government, through which Airbnb implemented a simplified online registration system earlier this year aimed at helping Andalusian hosts to comply with local rental laws.

“Airbnb’s agreement with the municipality was implemented in full on October 1. After the creation of a simplified online registration system, we have deactivated the advertisements that, as of September 30, did not include a registration number in accordance with the Andalusian tourism law,” the company announced. After the reduction, the platform now has 40,800 listings for tourist properties in Andalusia. The company also stated that almost 80% of property owners, or hosts, as the company calls them, have just one listing, while just 2% have more than five.

The typical Andalusian host is 47 years old and rents their property for 33 days a year. The majority of hosts are women (53%), and 79% of them have between 30 and 59 years of age.

The platform values its cooperation with the municipality and sees it as a model for the future. “Airbnb cooperated with the Andalusian government to create a tool that helps to support the community of responsible home sharers and is the only platform that is committed to sharing data with the authorities, making the task of inspection easier.”

Other online platforms grouped under the PAT banner announced that they would request mandatory registration for any new holiday homes in Andalusia starting this week. The association, made up of HomeAway, Rentalia, Spain-Holiday.com and Niumba, has a total of more than 60,000 holiday homes in Andalusia. It is another step towards the elimination of the informal market in the region and will further encourage the registration of flats that operate in the sector. Also, the PAT platforms announced their commitment to seek “solutions and tools” to extend the registration requirement to the entire supply of flats in Andalusia. The local government also announced “concrete actions” to create a new state framework for the sector by the end of the year.

Original Story: Diário Sur – Pilar Martínez

Photo: Francis Silva

Translation: Richard Turner

Record Fines For Airbnb & HomeAway in Barcelona

25 November 2016 – Expansión

Airbnb and HomeAway are going to be fined €600,000 each by the Town Hall of Barcelona. The Town Hall, led by Ada Colau (pictured above), will fine both tourist accommodation platforms for continuing to advertise unlicensed apartments.

The mayoress of the city announced the decision yesterday, explaining that the fines will be imposed because both companies have ignored the Town Hall’s request to stop advertising illegal tourist apartments and provide data about the properties.

The first fine amounted to €30,000 for each technological company, but given that both portals continued their activity, the classification of the infringement has now been upgraded from serious to very serious, and the fine has increased to €600,000 for each firm, the maximum permitted under the Tourism Law.

The files have already been signed and the firms will be notified about the fines shortly. The amount of the sanction will reflect: the number of adverts published – 3,812 in the case of Airbnb and 1,744 in the case of HomeAway, according to the Town Hall –; the economic benefit they obtain; their dominant position in the market; and the recurrence of the infringement.

A fine of €30,000 has been maintained for other portals, including: Fotocasa, Open House, TripAdvisor, OnlyApartments, 9flats, Niumba and Rent4days.

Airbnb’s response

The US platform Airbnb, led in Spain by Arnaldo Muñoz in Barcelona, announced its decision to appeal the fine.

“This is a sad decision and Airbnb is going to appeal; less than a month ago a meeting was held between representatives of the Town Hall and Airbnb, where it was agreed that we would work together to support the city’s interests”, said the portal in a statement. Sources at the platform consider that “Airbnb is part of the solution in Barcelona, we want to be a strong ally in the cities in which we operate and we will continue to seek open dialogue with the Town Hall”.

According to Airbnb, there are contradictions in Barcelona’s tourist policies, which favour commercial operators and apartments dedicated solely to tourism in tourist areas, to the detriment of people who want to open up their own homes.

“We have to differentiate between professionals who operate lots of tourist apartments and individuals who rent out their homes from time to time”, say sources at Airbnb. The portal regrets that “Barcelona is resisting what is happening in most other cities in the world”. The portal has reached agreements with more than 200 cities and regions.

Original story: Expansión (by Tina Díaz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: Overnight Hotel Stays Rose By 7.4% YoY In July

24 August 2016 – Expansión

The Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Valencia recorded the highest occupancy rates during the month. There was no “Brexit effect”: the British market grew by 15%. The sector believes that it has recorded from the losses of the crisis.

The tourism sector has moved full steam ahead during the first half of the year and, above all, so far this summer. In July, there were 42.8 million overnight hotel stays (28.1 million foreigners and 14.6 million Spaniards), up by 7.4% compared with the same month in 2015, when the figure had risen by 6% YoY. There are two main drivers of this acceleration: overseas tourists, whose stays increased by 8.2%, and Spain’s own residents, whose stays rose by 5.7% in July compared with last year, according to data published yesterday by INE. Sources in the sector consider that the problems of the crisis, above all in terms of the domestic market, are now behind us.

The autonomous regions with the highest occupancy rates during the seventh month of the year were the Balearic Islands (91%), the Canary Islands (84.9%), Valencia (77.9%) and Cataluña (75.8%). The most successful area in terms of the number of beds occupied was the island of Mallorca, with a 92.1% occupancy rate and Palma-Calvià, which achieved a higher occupancy rate on the weekends (90.9%). In terms of total overnight stays, the most popular area was the Costa del Sol, with more than 2.3 million overnight stays during the month.

And not only did the number of overnight stays rise, hotel prices also increased in July: by 7.5% compared with a year ago, which represents an increase of 1.5 points over the rate obtained then (6%). Again, the autonomous regions that contributed the most to this increase were the Balearic Islands (with a YoY increase of 10%), Andalucía (8.9%), the Canary Islands (8%) and Cataluña (5%).

In addition, the average revenue per room occupied stood at €93.20, up by 6.3% YoY. By hotel category, the average income was €208.40 for five-star properties; €102.40 for four-star hotels and €79.40 for three-star establishments (…).

In addition to the economic recovery, which has relaunched domestic demand after it was significantly depressed during the crisis, one reason that explains the strong tourism figures in Spain is the difficulties that competing countries are facing, such as Turkey, whose tourist market is experiencing decreases of 30% following the terrorist attacks in recent months, and Egypt, with a decline of almost 70%, following five years of political and social instability since the outbreak of the Arab spring (…).

For the time being, the figures do not reflect any negative effect from Brexit in terms of the arrival of British visitors. Quite the opposite: in July, Brits recorded 1.28 million overnight stays in Spain, up by 15% compared with the same month in 2015. “So far in 2016, the British market has grown by 20%”, said Juan Molas, Chairman of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT), who revealed that reservations made by tour operators for the winter season (November-April) already reflect an increase of 16% compared with the same period last year.

Despite the general recovery in terms of overnight hotel stays, sector representatives are still warning about the increase in the use of unregulated establishments through platforms such as Airbnb, Homeaway and Niumba, amongst others. “The use of these services unbalances the tourist model”, said Inmaculada Benito, Chairwoman of the Hotel Business Federation in Mallorca. A war has been declared on these types of businesses in cities such as Barcelona.

Original story: Expansión (by Yago González)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Málaga Accounts For 53% Of Andalucía’s Holiday Homes

11 December 2015 – La Opinión de Málaga

The province of Málaga may account for more than half of the supply of holiday homes for rent in the autonomous region of Andalucía – specifically, 53% – at least, that is according to the calculations performed by the international firm Homeaway. The company is one of the market leaders in a segment that is causing a lot of controversy at the moment, with hoteliers, through groups such as Exceltur, accusing its participants of unfair competition given that they operate in a legal vacuum and are not subject to tax charges. The spokesman for Homeaway in Spain, Joseba Cortázar, who was speaking at a conference about the collaborative economy held yesterday in the Andalucía Lab de Marbella, said that the region, which has 14,600 properties advertised on its website (7,800 in Málaga) accounts for 16% of its total holiday rental supply in Spain (around 88,000 properties). Homeaway, together with Airbnb and Niumba, is one of the most representative companies in this sector, accounting for almost a quarter of all activity in Spain.

Homeaway, which cites that the Costa del Sol is one of its main markets, says that, at the global level, rented holiday homes have generated an economic impact of €793 million in Andalucía over the last two years, of which €761 million was spent on leisure and food during visitors’ stays, “impacting directly on businesses in the region”. The data is presented in a report compiled for the company by the Marketing Department of the University of Salamanca. In its conclusions, it says that rented holiday homes “are not competition, but are actually complementary to hotels, given that 81% (600,629) of the 740,000 visitors (resident in Spain and aged between 18 and 65) who leased tourist accommodation in Andalucía during the last two years, also stayed in hotels and only 19% (140,088) exclusively leased holiday home accommodation.

Homeaway’s report also says that the people who rented both holiday homes and hotels for leisure and holidays are the ones who take the most trips per year (6.57 times), a higher number than those that have stayed in a holiday home in Andalucía at least once in the last two years, independently of whether they have complemented their stay with nights in a hotel (5.84 times). According to this data, families (47%), couples (28%) and groups of friends (23%) are the main users of holiday homes in the autonomous region, whilst couples (49%) and families (34%) are most prevalent in hotels, with groups of friends taking a smaller share of the market (10%). For Homeaway, the report demonstrates the “complementarity” of the two accommodation types.

Cortázar did acknowledge that holiday homes in Andalucía are still in a “lawless” situation given the lack of specific regulation beyond that afforded by traditional rental guidance. (…).

On the flipside, Exceltur published a study in Málaga a few weeks ago, which showed that holiday homes do not represent a complementary offer, but rather are an invasive, substitute product, which offer no real capacity to attract new or different tourist besides the ones who typically use regulated hotels and apartments. Exceltur indicated that the majority of the visitors opting for that formula do so primarily for price reasons (…). Its report also denies that holiday homes can be defined as part of the collaborative economy: only 7% of homes advertised on digital platforms – the real driver behind the sector – involve free exchange and are offered in return for no payment. The rest, according to Exceltur, represent “a huge business”.

Original story: La Opinión de Málaga (by José Vicente Rodríguez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tourist Sector Hits Back At Airbnb, HomeAway & Niumba

18 May 2015 – Expansión

The sector is demanding a stronger institutional fight against the intermediaries. The Government says that each region is responsible for its own response.

The main Spanish tourism companies have teamed up in an offensive with the aim of limiting the power of the proliferation of unregulated tourist rental accommodation, which do not pay taxes and do not meet the safety, hygiene and space requirements and other guarantees offered by legal accommodation. The sector wants to curb the platforms (websites such as Airbnb, 9flats, Wimdu, Rentalia, Niumba and HomeAway, amongst others) that make money by acting as intermediaries. And to that end, it has been pressuring the Spanish Government for some time to prohibit them, since they think that the autonomous communities are not fulfilling their regulatory duties.

Over the last few months, the tourism association Exceltur, whose members include prestigious companies such as NH, Melia, Iberia, American Express, Hotusa and Globalia, has been holding conversations with the Secretary of State for Tourism (who reports into the Ministry for Industry, Energy and Tourism). Exceltur thinks that the Executive “could do a lot more” to regulate the operations of these rental companies, which it considers are unfair competition and which threaten its business. The main trade association for Spanish hoteliers, Cehat, estimates that between 2010 and 2013, the number of customers staying at these establishments increased by 300%, and it calculates that the number of foreign tourists who use them represents more than 20% of the total.

To support its position, Exceltur has commission the consultancy firm EY (Ernst & Young) to conduct a study analysing the impact that this illegal rental accommodation is having on the tourism sector as a whole, not just on the hotel segment. To date, EY has prepared a report about the consequences for the Balearic Islands if this rental accommodation continues to grow at its current rate over the next ten years. According to its calculations, the hotel sector would lose between 5,000 and 13,000 jobs and forgo a gross added value of between €211 million and €529 million.

Regional jurisdiction

The Government says that tourism is a regional jurisdiction, and so the Central Administration cannot do much beyond trying to standardise the regional regulations as much as possible. Moreover, the upcoming regional and general elections are likely to scupper any attempt at reform.

To date, the regions that have endeavoured to do the most to regulate tourist rental accommodation are Madrid and Cataluña, although the former received a blow from the National Competition and Markets Commission (CNMC) in March when it ruled that the Madrid law (which only allows accommodation to be rented provided the minimum stay is five days) is a barrier to free competition.

Meanwhile, the Catalan Generalitat requires intermediary websites to ensure that each property offered for rent has a kind of identification number plate to accredit it as accommodation with its license in order. Last summer, Cataluña imposed a fine of €300,000 on the web portal Airbnb for allegedly failing to comply with that standard.

On an international level, cities are taking a variety of decisions. Thus, for example, New York has declared war on tourist rental accommodation, with coordinated teams of tax inspectors, police and lawyers; and the town hall of Amsterdam has just approved an agreement with Airbnb, which requries the platform to coordinate the collection of the tourist tax that is applicable to the activities of its users.

The so-called “collaborative economy” represents a real headache for legislators, both in Spain and across Europe. In Spain, Article 16 of the Law for Information Society Services (2002) states that intermediaries (such as Airbnb, Uber and others) are not liable for the possible unlawfulness of the people they host, unless they have specific knowledge thereof. Meanwhile, the European Commission is drafting a directive that may ease restrictions on the European market and facilitate the activity of these platforms.

Original story: Expansión (by Yago González)

Translation: Carmel Drake