“At the request of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, we have removed a very small number of listings in Spain,” specifically, 2% of the accommodations listed in the country’s catalog, confirmed the Dutch platform in a statement sent to AFP.
Booking.com, which specifies having around 200,000 accommodations in Spain, stated that this decision was made because the accommodations in question had not provided a valid license to permit rental for tourism purposes.
“We have always cooperated […] — and will continue to do so — […] with the various administrations, both at national and regional levels, as part of our ongoing efforts to contribute to clear and transparent regulation of the short-term rental sector,” the group adds.
The Spanish Government’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs welcomed the removal of these listings on Thursday, noting a total of “4,093 illegal listings” removed at the request of authorities.
The growth of tourist accommodation is “one of the causes of the housing access difficulties currently faced by thousands of people in Spain, especially in areas that receive the highest influx of tourists,” the ministry justified.
According to the ministry, the majority of removed listings were in the Canary Islands, one of the regions in Spain that attracts the most tourists.
In May, the ministry requested that the Airbnb platform remove 65,000 tourist accommodation listings, arguing that they violated regulations related to the advertising of such residences.
The platform countered, stating in a communiqué that the ministry “was not competent to enforce regulations regarding tourist accommodation” and promised to contest the decision in court.
So far, however, the judiciary has rejected two appeals from Airbnb against these requests.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), Spain currently has 368,000 tourist accommodations.
