Hotel industry trying to dictate short term rental market

In Western Australia, the Hotels Association, is trying to regulate the short term rental market. I went to an Airbnb meeting a few nights ago on the subject. I am all for better regulations concerning safety and transparency but restriction of trade is another thing. Smacks of the unfair to me.

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I think you’ll find that the driving force behind many cases of regulations being imposed on STRs is the local hoteliers associations. They see STR as a threat and vigorously lobby those in power to cap numbers, impose taxes etc.

JF

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The hotels are not really scared of AirBnB and the private person renting out a spare room.

The problem is that AirBnB is becoming the domain of real estate investors. Buying properties and renting out on large scale running a virtual hotel avoiding all taxes and safety regulations.

All big cities have large companies running up to 100 rentals as if they are running a resort.

This is a battle between giants. And the private STR owners (home owner or family hotel) are caught in the middle.

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That may the case in some regions, however in Europe seasonal rentals in places like the Bealerics do worry the hotels as the bulk of the market isn’t simply someone renting out a room. Whole apartment blocks are being rented as STR’s, often illegally, and are taking business away from the more traditional holiday accommodation providers.

In the case of the Balearics, the local hoteliers had been lobbying for regulation for years, and it wasn’t until locals also started complaining about the rise in LTR prices that the regional government acted.

This factor (LTR price increases), which Airbnb vigorously deny is the case, is definitely pushing locals out of the housing market. Across Spain cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia are tightening up the regulations to the extent that many successful hosts may find it impossible to comply.

In Scotland, Edinburgh council is considering a ninety day limit on STRs, again due to the belief that locals are being priced out of the LTR market.

A couple of months ago, the HAC (Hotel Association of Canada) released their own study which calls for several measures to be implemented, including a cap on usage.

Another example of pressure from hoteliers is Turkey. They had been lobbying for some time to regulate independent STR property and subsequent to the attempted coup in 2016 the law was changed and all of their demands were granted. As a bonus, the government got to implement both their security related legislation and revenue generating regulations (i.e. taxman must be informed of each and every guest!). This has slashed the available STRs in places like Istanbul, Marmaris, Antalya etc.

Locally in Andalucia STRs are definitely hitting the hotels during the off season - I’ve never seen rates as low for a long time. Several of the larger hotels in our area are cheaper than us!

Anyway… rambled on way to much :slight_smile:

JF

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It seems you completely failed to understand what I wrote.
Because your example proves my point.

These are not the families making ends meet, which AirBnB is always talking about in their marketing campaigns. These are huge investment companies doing this.

As I said, this is a battle between giants.

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You are right but local STR services like TatildeKirala solves taxing issues for Turkish market.