Global vacation rental platform Airbnb has called on Barcelona’s mayor to reconsider an intensified crackdown on short-term rentals, arguing that such measures disproportionately benefit the hotel sector without effectively addressing issues like overtourism or the city's housing crisis.

“The only winner from Barcelona’s war on short-term rentals is the hotel industry,” stated Sara Rodriguez, Airbnb’s Head of Policy for Spain and Portugal, in a letter addressed to Mayor Jaume Collboni. The letter, sent over the weekend and reviewed by Reuters, urged a re-evaluation of the city's strategy.

Barcelona’s city hall has yet to respond to the criticism. In June, Collboni unveiled a plan to phase out all short-term rentals by 2028 in an effort to curb rising rents for residents. However, the measure has faced legal challenges. Airbnb contends that previous restrictions, including a 2014 policy limiting new tourist accommodation licenses in the city center, have failed to achieve their intended goals.

“Official data shows that despite a significant reduction in short-term rentals, the challenges of housing affordability and over-tourism persist and have worsened,” Airbnb’s letter asserted.

The company highlighted that while short-term rental listings dropped by half—from 2020 levels to 8,842 last year—long-term rents surged by over 70%, and hotel room prices increased by more than 60%. Airbnb also pointed out that Barcelona has more vacant homes than short-term rentals, with an eight-to-one ratio. “Addressing vacant homes would likely have a greater impact on affordable housing availability than restricting Airbnb,” the company argued, noting that it has already removed over 7,000 listings in Barcelona since 2018.

While Mayor Collboni has pledged to maintain a ban on new hotels in the city center, he supports expanding hotel capacity in other areas of Barcelona.

Spain’s travel industry association Exceltur, which represents major hotels, travel agents, and airlines, has advocated for stringent regulation of short-term rental platforms since 2022, describing the surge in holiday rentals as “out of control” in urban areas.

Other Spanish cities, including Madrid and Malaga, have also introduced restrictions on short-term rentals this year.

For further reading:

• Spain’s flood disaster was its worst in recent history. Here’s what went wrong.

• In Spain’s Mallorca, 20,000 people join anti-tourism demonstration.