Balearic tourism minister, Jaume Bauzá, with representatives of Airbnb and others

Tourism minister Jaume Bauzá with representatives of Airbnb and others in Madrid on Friday. | Enrique Fueris

Andrew EdeMadrid24/01/2025 18:03
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At the Fitur tourism fair on Friday, Airbnb unveiled a plan to provide residents in Mallorca with a phone number to report "possible disturbances" caused by tourists staying in Airbnb properties. These cover noise, vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The service will seek to mediate between residents, owners and tourists if incidents become serious. A specialist company, Roomonitor, will operate the service on Airbnb's behalf. There is also to be a manual of good practices that will be sent to tourists.

Called 'We Respect', the service already exists in certain Spanish cities such as Barcelona and ​​Madrid. Airbnb will be in contact with advertisers and inform them of the scheme, which is expected to begin around Easter. It will initially apply to Mallorca only, but the intention is to roll it out to the other islands in the near future.

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The Balearic tourism minister, Jaume Bauzá, welcomed the initiative, saying it represented "a milestone in confirming the excellence of the Balearic Islands as a tourist destination".

Sara Rodríguez, director of public policies for Airbnb in Spain and Portugal, said the company was "proud" to deploy this project in Mallorca and stressed the commitment of the entire sector to the coexistence between tourists and residents. "Social sustainability, responsible tourism and respect for the destination are practices that are already being carried out by the owners of tourist rentals and we hope that it will be a success."

For the manager of the Habtur holiday rentals association, Maria Gibert, the initiative indicates that the holiday rentals sector wishes to "send a message of our concern for being respectful to residents". "The sector is becoming more responsible and more sustainable every day."