Airbnb fight continues in Barcelona

The city of Barcelona rejected a proposal by Airbnb Inc. to limit the number of rents in the city, causing a new clash between the platform and the local authorities that promised to suppress the unregulated tourism.

The council said that the plan to limit the listings of houses in the central area of ​​Barcelona Ciutat Vella does not go far enough to address the use of unlicensed rentals for tourists.

Agusti Colom, Barcelona's business and tourism advisor, said "The law is clear. You can not advertise tourist apartments on these platforms if they do not have a license number, so Airbnb has to do is remove them."

The Airbnb business in the city has almost doubled in two years, reaching 20,000 ads of 11,000 in 2014. Barcelona is now the fourth largest city of Airbnb rentals in Europe behind Paris, London and Rome and the ninth most biggest in the world.

Barcelona accused the company of counting 3,812 unlicensed rentals, a practice that the city's mayor, Ada Colau, called intolerable. Which I think it's true, but Airbnb also helps the city to get more tourism, so I'm not shure what I will do if this were in my hands.

Source: https://skift.com/2017/02/08/barcelona-authorities-rebuff-airbnbs-peace-offering/