The website accuses the regional government of protecting a model of mass tourism created by hotels. The government has decided to legislate against Balearic families by promoting legislation that only protects the hotels and therefore limits the distribution of benefits generated by tourism to certain areas and to certain large business groups.
Arnau Muñoz, Airbnb's managing director for Spain and Portugal, says that Airbnb is part of the solution for the challenges posed by mass tourism as it helps to build sustainable tourism that benefits local families and communities. He believes that the legislation is complicated and confusing and fails to distinguish between individuals who share their "houses" and professional operators.
He adds that Airbnb will be exploring all legal and political avenues to protect a more democratic and sustainable form of tourism in the Balearics. "Therefore, we will be calling on the national government to take an active role in avoiding the fragmentation of regulation in Spain. Working together we can build sustainable tourism models."
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Airbnb are just sounding off because they are being forced to follow the LAW of the Land. and those that use the site would be well advised to check to make sure that god forbid anything should happen to any one of the party using a place booked with this Airbnb is properly insured by Airbnb. If they are not then how can anyone get justice if something goes wrong. Air bnb dont think of the CUSTOMER they only think of the profit.
Interesting reading the comments posted here and somewhat ironic that the majority of people who regularly post comments are dead against the illegal street traders who ply their trade and take business away from tax paying businesses but everyone is upset because of the stance taken by the government on illegal suites. Why have Airbnb lost business? Because they have had to pull listings for suites where the owners have not registered their suites with the government. Airbnb should never have been listing these suites in the first place. They should have ensured that the suites they were offering followed proper government guidelines. The disappointment renters have experienced is the direct result of Airbnb not the government. These illegal suites are taking business from tax compliant and tax paying rentals and hotels. The solution is simple, register your suite, go through the paperwork and collect and pay taxes. You cannot have it both ways. If the illegal suites can operate then so must the illegal sellers. We need a level playing field.
Barcelo the anti tourism minister thanks for wrecking my plans to open a new restaraunt , I see the success that I have had in recent years disappearing already thanks to your terrible rental legistration. You should be arrested for the treason you committed against this island !!
This is what Left wing government always does. They do not have a business generating mentality and then subsequently the entire population suffers. This is a repeat of what happened when they were last in.I feel so sorry for many businesses in Mallorca as they are going to struggle to survive, paying rents, long term staff contracts that they cannot get out of, rates, utility bills, accountancy bills, equipment costs, regulatory costs and the other multitude of costs that need to be covered before you can even show a profit. Many self employed people will struggle to survive.The season is over in 18 days in most of the resorts. In only 50 days nearly everything will be shut - and many back on the Paro for another 6 months.
Here we go turning the clock back to riding to work on a donkey to pick olives in the family grove.
Correct, but that figure was calculated from just their listings. According to the press there are 47 other platforms that they want to close, HomeAway being just one more giant. Remember this is just the drop in money being spent on the streets, not direct and indirect losses to Hacienda. Along with the freefall pound exchange rate, we'll see a lot more empty shops and long faces next year (if they haven't been banned from trading). Nice one Barceló !