Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
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