The EU has just passed proposals for new rules to tackle some of the biggest issues surrounding the growth of Airbnb and short-term rentals in Europe. What does an effective European framework to regulate this industry look like? How do governments and industry work together to make accommodation accessible while cracking down on speculators and overtourism? Can there be a harmonized approach to regulation across the bloc that empowers local authorities to enforce their rules? Can tourism continue to grow and be sustainable?
Nathan Blecharczyk is one of the co-founders of Airbnb and serves as Chief Strategy Officer
We believe that the proposals put forward by the European Commission last week are a big step forward in addressing some of these challenges.
Airbnb started as a solution to a challenge – how ordinary people could pay their rent. About 14 years ago, while I and my fellow Airbnb co-founders were looking for ideas to pay our rent, we blew up air mattresses, hosted three guests, and Airbnb was born. Step forward to today and millions of hosts around the world are doing the same; using their home – usually their biggest expense – to supplement their income and make ends meet.
As the cost of living continues to rise across Europe, extra income has never been more important.
The EU has more than one million hosts on Airbnb – more than any other region in the world – and nearly three-quarters of them share a single home. The typical host earned just over €3,000 last year, which equates to two months extra pay for the median European household, and 40% say the extra income helps them cope with the increase the cost of living (bbased on a survey of more than 36,000 Hosts and nearly 38,000 travelers who booked between June 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 and interviewed between February 17, 2022 and March 31, 2022, with a margin of error less than 2%).
As Airbnb has grown, we’ve partnered with policymakers to collaborate on rules that help hosts share homes, follow local rules, and pay taxes. We have learned that we must prioritize our relationships with governments as much as with hosts and guests. Although we are proud of the progress we have made together, including in countries like France, Greece and the Netherlands, we can always do more.
Today, as accommodation continues to be an economic lifeline for families across the EU, we are focusing on a new challenge; how Airbnb can be part of the solution to the challenges associated with the popularity and growth of tourism in Europe.
We have repeatedly observed that when travelers stay in local homes, tourism is more dispersed and benefits more communities beyond busy hotels and tourist hotspots. As an engineer, I’m always looking for technology solutions to European tourism challenges that we can integrate into our product and embed in Airbnb’s DNA as we move forward. Over the past few years, we’ve introduced a number of tools, which reached milestones this month.
The City Portal – a bespoke platform for governments to access data, information and enforcement tools on Airbnb – has now been adopted by more than 300 cities and tourism authorities around the world, including more of 170 in Europe. Our work to help local authorities collect and remit resort taxes on behalf of Hosts has raised and remitted more than $6 billion globally, including $573 million (€511 million) in the EU. And we’re now providing free noise detectors to hosts in 60 countries to support our fight against noise and nuisance, which in a recent pilot project helped hosts and guests resolve 100% of noise alerts. noise between them within 20 minutes of detection.
Also this month, Airbnb shared new analysis on how new flexible search tools are diverting bookings from Europe’s most saturated tourism hotspots and peak travel dates to support more sustainable travel trends. . We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we will continue to innovate and want to move forward in partnership with communities to achieve results that benefit everyone.
With this in mind, we are encouraged by the proposed bloc-wide rules for short-term rentals adopted by the European Commission last week. According to the proposals, authorities that have introduced clear and simple registration processes will have better access to data through a harmonized data sharing framework, allowing them to write smart, evidence-based local rules.
The proposals are the latest step towards clearer rules and better ways of working between industry and authorities across the EU. For example, Airbnb already shares data on short-term rental activity through our partnership with Eurostat, and we are preparing to comply with the Common Tax Reporting Framework for Digital Platforms, known as DAC 7.
Crucially, the rules proposed by the EU also give hope to ordinary Europeans who are excluded from accommodation benefits due to fragmented and disproportionate local rules, which have often been designed with large tourist operators in mind and undermine the single market. The intention is that more data will ultimately lead to clearer, fairer and more proportionate regulations across the EU.
It is important to stress that the EU proposals are a starting point and there are still many details to be developed. We also know, from our government collaborations and product innovations to date, that this job is very complex and not just a flick of a switch.
What is clear is that the EU proposals offer everyone a decisive moment to move forward and tackle together the issues relating to the sustainability of tourism in Europe.
We believe these proposals provide a framework for Airbnb to expand our collaborations with governments and make it easier for ordinary Europeans to share their homes and follow the rules. We have long supported EU work on new short-term rental rules. By adopting a more harmonized approach to regulation, industry and governments can work together to improve access to data, increase transparency and address disproportionate local rules that prevent European families from sharing accommodation to increase their incomes and undermine the single market.
We are excited about the future and want to move forward and use this opportunity together with governments, communities and industries across the EU to develop rules that truly benefit everyone.
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