The Council of Mallorca's tourism department says it has almost finalised an agreement with Airbnb to remove ads for illegal holiday lets on the island.
The department expects to be able to announce the agreement shortly, discussions with Airbnb having for now focused on listings that are "manifestly illegal". These include tents, caravans, boats and shacks. Not included, therefore, are apartments, houses, rooms in houses or any other type of residential accommodation.
The Council has meanwhile welcomed Spain's consumer affairs ministry's order that Airbnb immediately remove 65,935 ads for illegal tourist lets throughout Spain. The ministry's order follows the High Court of Justice in Madrid having dismissed an Airbnb appeal against the elimination of ads for 5,800 illegal lets in six Spanish regions, one of these being the Balearics. "We welcome everything that the various administrations do to combat illegal offers."
Airbnb have accused the ministry of using an "indiscriminate methodology" when compiling this list and say they will continue to appeal such decisions. "They are at odds with Spanish and European regulations."
One of the main lines of defence Airbnb have given in the past and continue to is that they are subject to the Digital Services Act, have no supervisory obligations, and should not be considered a real estate service. This was according to a ruling by the European Court of Justice.
In January 2022, Spain's Supreme Court, following the European ruling, established that information in advertisements, including registration numbers where necessary, was the responsibility of the provider of the service (the accommodation) and not of the platform on which it is advertised.
When the ministry opened its disciplinary proceedings against Airbnb in December 2024, the consumer affairs minister, Pablo Bustinduy, stated: "No company, no matter how large or powerful, should be above the law. Nor in the housing market."
5 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
I think we should just shut down everything. Like in the pandemic. That'll be teach 'em. And we can make Mallorca great again.
Fat lot of good that is going to do for Mallorca. Maybe the problem is Airbnb can afford better lawyers that the government.
"No company, no matter how large or powerful, should be above the law." That's funny, large companies do whatever tf they want... Criminals with suits and billions, but of course the people who always suffer are the bottom poor people. Guys the problem with the housing crisis and overcrowding it's because there's a few dozen tents available to rent. Give me break, bunch of money greedy dinosaurs running the world. Sickening
Fabulous, so no more tents, shacks or caravans on Airbnb!! But for now houses and apartments are still being promoted on Airbnb. Really?? Surely it is the houses and apartments that should be #1 priority and non negotiable focus of the local law-makers. A few tents and shacks are really not the main issue here!
The first two paragraphs above could have been written by the Liebour government describing their just done so called trade deals . Nothing concrete , questionable results and a lot of talk about little achieved.