Airbnb holiday home – Photo by Max Rahubovskiy on Pexels
(STRASBOURG) – The European Parliament adopted harmonised requirements Thursday on how data related to short-term rental services (STRs) such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia should be collected and shared.
The regulation aims to promote a transparent and responsible platform economy in the EU, while at the same time protecting consumers from fraudulent short-term rental offers.
The rules will reveal the actual impact of short-term rental services, and also enable local authorities in response to develop appropriate policies.
With the volume of short-term accommodation rental services increasing significantly with the expansion of online platforms such as Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and TripAdvisor, STRs now comprise about a quarter of total tourist accommodation in the EU.
While nobody doubts the benefits of STRs for hosts, tourists and regions, but the concerns are that the lack of appropriate rules also contributes to problems like higher housing prices, the displacement of permanent residents, over-tourism, and unfair competition.
Online platforms that facilitate short-term rental services have to comply with obligations regarding registration and data sharing for the properties they list that are located in areas where a registration process exists. A simple online registration procedure will allow the relevant authorities to identify the host and their unit, and verify their information.
Online platforms will need to ensure that the information provided by hosts is reliable and complete and that the registration number is clearly visible on the corresponding listing. They will also have to make reasonable efforts to conduct random information checks. The competent authorities can suspend registration numbers, ask platforms to remove illegal listings, or impose penalties on non-compliant platforms or hosts.
EU member states will set up a single digital entry point to receive data from platforms about host activity on a monthly basis (e.g. number of nights the unit was rented out, number of guests, specific address, registration number, URL of the listing). Gathering this data will allow authorities to monitor compliance with host registration processes, and enable national authorities to implement suitable policies in the short-term accommodation rental sector.
Once the EU Council adopts the text, it will be published in the EU Official Journal, after which the regulation will become applicable in 24 months.
Further information, European Parliament
