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Airbnb went dark in New York City. Now, it’s facing the possibility of going dark in Spain.
In response to an acute housing shortage and amid tension with tourists, Spain’s High Court affirmed an order requiring the short-term rental platform to remove nearly 66,000 listings in the country, a ruling Airbnb has vowed to appeal.
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The court affirmed a ruling by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and the 2030 Agenda, which ordered Airbnb to block more than 65,000 listings on its platform. The government considers the short-term rental listings to be illegal.
The rulings come amid a broader effort by Spanish leaders to crack down on illegal tourist accommodations, the nation said.
The ruling is a blow for the leading short-term rental platform as it seeks to grow its market share overseas amid tepid demand in the U.S., and as it seeks to grow its highly profitable business internationally.
The high court ordered Airbnb to immediately remove 5,800 listings, a number that was later lowered to just under 5,000 after the company showed a number of listings were in compliance with regulations.
But the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs said the country justified the removal of the more than 65,000 Airbnb listings in the country because the ads don’t include a license or registration number; they don’t indicate whether the owner is a professional or an individual; or they include inaccurate license numbers.
Airbnb said that the ruling wouldn’t take immediate effect, and that it would appeal.
The action was a departure from past rulings, including by the Spanish Supreme Court, which ruled in 2022 that individual hosts were responsible for making sure to provide accurate and necessary information on the listing.
Airbnb has said that short-term rentals account for a miniscule amount of total housing in markets that have enacted stringent regulations, like Barcelona and Amsterdam.
In 2023, tens of thousands of Airbnb listings were removed from New York City as part of a crackdown on short-term rentals in the Big Apple. The company has said such regulations are a boon for the hotel industry, which has seen prices soar in New York City after the regulation took effect.
“No evidence of rule-breaking by hosts has been put forward, and the decision goes against EU and Spanish law, and a previous ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court,” an Airbnb spokesperson said in a statement.
Instead of cracking down on tourist housing options, the spokesperson said, Spain should focus on building more housing to meet existing demand.
“The solution is to build more homes – anything else is a distraction,” the spokesperson said. “Governments across the world are seeing that regulating Airbnb does not alleviate housing concerns or return homes to the market – it only hurts local families who rely on hosting to afford their homes and rising costs.”
