STR platforms remain silent as others denounce unintended consequences of new Barcelona ban

Barcelona’s decision to ban short-term rentals has sparked much discussion from industry professionals – many of whom criticize the decision and denounce potential unintended consequences – while some of the sector’s major platforms have not commented publicly the decision of the Spanish city.

On Friday, Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni said that by November 2028, apartment rentals for tourists would cease to exist, with the city taking steps to transition existing properties to residential use only.

Barcelona currently has 10,101 properties licensed for tourist use – a restricted count in force since 2014. “These 10,000 tourist apartments (will become) residential apartments in November 2028,” Collboni said.

Contacted by PhocusWire, Airbnb, Vrbo and HomeToGo declined to comment on the new ban, and Airbnb and Vrbo suggested that questions be directed to the European Holiday Homes Association (EHHA). Booking.com did not respond to our request.

The sweeping ban is part of an effort to improve Barcelona’s housing market, Collboni wrote in an article on We have been suffering for years.”

Some supported Collboni’s decision, including Spain’s Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez García, who shared her approval of to decent and affordable housing,” Rodríguez García wrote.

Unintended consequences?

Not everyone sees the containment of STRs as a panacea for the housing problems Barcelona currently faces.

Even some players in the hospitality sector – who stand to benefit from the closure of STR establishments – see the decision as detrimental to the city’s tourism future. Ivar Yuste, partner at PHG Hotels and Resorts, said the city was “shooting itself in the foot.”

“Barcelona’s tourism future is not bright,” Yuste said. “They implemented a hotel ban that inflates the price of hotel assets, inflates rates and diverts demand to apartments. If you now also ban apartments, everything will get out of control… I don’t see any positive outcome from this situation.

“(Hotel) supply will be absolutely insufficient to meet demand. … If the city council has the means to enforce this ban, I doubt it, because this decision would seriously undermine the city’s main source of revenue.”

Yuste predicts that average daily hotel rates will spiral out of control and tourists will stop coming to Barcelona. In New York, where government leaders enacted strict restrictions on STRs last fall, average daily rates and hotel occupancy rates have jumped.

AirDNA chief economist and senior vice president of analytics Jamie Lane echoed Yuste’s outlook but cautioned that he was not an expert on the hotel industry in Barcelona.

Typically, when restrictions like this are put in place, there aren’t enough hotel rooms to accommodate guests in the same way as STRs, Lane said, noting that AirDNA has seen this result occur in New York and other major cities.

So, there won’t be a number of vacant hotel rooms matching the number of units removed – especially assuming that many units are multi-bedroom properties that can accommodate a certain number of people at a time.

“When there isn’t enough supply to meet demand, that usually means prices are going up,” Lane said. “And that helps reduce overall demand, just people being priced out of the market… So you should see fewer people traveling to Barcelona as a result of something like this.”

And EHHA said in a statement that banning STRs would not only not solve housing problems, but would actually harm city residents who make their living supporting the tourism industry.

“While we understand and respect the need for local authorities to regulate to address housing issues, unwarranted and ill-informed regulation will only exacerbate the struggles of local communities,” EHHA said, highlighting housing prices. rental housing in the city which continued to decline. despite the decade-old policy limiting the number of STR licenses to around 10,000.

“This extreme proposal will have no effect on the housing crisis since less than 1% of housing in Barcelona is short-term rental. We urge the city council to engage with the whole STR sector and seek a solution that does not erode a key part of the tourism offer in Barcelona, ​​with very negative side effects for local families, businesses , from bakers to cafes, cleaners and everything in between. between.”

Vanessa de Souza Lage, co-founder and CEO of certification platform STR Sustonica and a Barcelona resident, is also concerned about the impact of the ban.

“STRs are essential to dispersing tourism throughout the city. For example, my neighborhood, which does not have hotels, benefits from STRs that attract visitors,” she said.

“By supporting RSTs, we encourage a more equitable distribution of the economic benefits of tourism and promote a more sustainable and locally integrated tourism model. This approach not only strengthens the local economy, but also enhances the visitor experience by fostering genuine connections with the community. For these reasons, cities, and in particular Barcelona, ​​should not ban STRs.”

What the STR market looks like in Barcelona right now

Last year, nearly 16 million travelers visited Barcelona proper, according to the Barcelona Tourism Observatory.

Although authorized rental properties do not represent a large portion of the city’s residential properties, experts say the STR market in Barcelona could actually be much larger than what has been officially authorized by the government.

In response to this news, global travel information platform Mabrian took an in-depth look at Barcelona’s STR sphere, based on Airbnb data, and found that the market is potentially 63% larger than predicted by city ​​officials, with 15,800 units listed on Airbnb in the city. This number represents around 56,700 beds, or around two-thirds of the beds offered by the city’s hotels, according to the Barcelona Tourism Observatory. And this figure does not include properties listed on platforms other than Airbnb.

“It is crucial for policy making to get things straight in terms of market sizing, especially since, according to our data, around one in four rental properties in Barcelona does not rely on compulsory licensing for tourist rental,” said Carlos Cendra. , partner and director of marketing and communications at Mabrian.

Lane said AirDNA figures put the total number of listings on Airbnb and Vrbo in Barcelona at around 17,500, although in Airbnb’s case some of those are for private rooms and he said that t is not “100%” clear whether private rooms are exempt from the requirement. new ban – or whether other licensing exemptions, such as long-term apartment rentals (30 days and more), would be exempted.

Will rentals really disappear?

Yuste predicts that some owners and managers of short-term rentals in Barcelona will continue to do so without permits, for example by using unofficial channels such as social media platforms or communicating directly with travelers.

Meanwhile, governments and regulators around the world are grappling with how to manage short-term rentals while meeting the needs of local residents.

In February, the European Union announced new rules on how data should be shared and collected, with the aim of creating a “transparent and responsible platform economy in the EU.”

Javier Delgado, managing partner and CEO for EMEA at Mirai, said that while he believes the lack of regulation has actually contributed to the huge growth in the number of new properties listed as short-term rentals, he don’t think a total ban similar to Barcelona’s response is appropriate.

“A total ban on STR does not seem reasonable because there is a significant market that needs and expects this type of accommodation,” he said.

An ideal solution would be to have European regulations ensuring fairness and sustainability, Delgado said. “In any case, we must recognize that it is easy to say and difficult to do.”

Lane believes many big cities are looking for “common ground.”

“It’s only in a handful of cities, big cities, that we’ve seen this type of regulation,” Lane said. “Mainly because tourism is a very big part of most cities…most cities want to find a line between allowing people to continue to have guests and making sure that it doesn’t really impact the long-term housing market.