Airbnb told to remove 65,000 Spanish listings

Spain's government has followed up on a wave of recent grassroots anti-tourist sentiment by ordering the Airbnb accommodation website to delete more than 65,000 holiday listings in the country.

The nation's Consumer Rights Ministry said many of the 65,935 Airbnb listings have broken rules, including a requirement for holiday rentals to be licensed and for a valid license number to be displayed on listings. Other Airbnb listings allegedly displayed fraudulent license numbers, or failed to specify whether the owner of the accommodation was an individual or a company.

The country's government made the move after widespread anti-tourist protests flared across the nation in recent months after local people complained property had become too expensive for them because of its popularity with visitors.

"Enough already with protecting those who make a business out of the right to housing," the Press Association quoted Pablo Bustinduy, Spain's minister of social rights, as saying as he unveiled the Airbnb crackdown.

Airbnb said that it will appeal in the courts against the government's decision.

The company said the prohibition also looks to have included some Airbnb rentals that have not broken rules.

The central government responded by saying it informed Airbnb several months ago about alleged violations of its rules, and that the company had unsuccessfully appealed the pending changes in court. The government said Madrid's high court had backed its decision to order Airbnb to delete the listings.

Bustinduy said 5,800 rental listings must, therefore, be deleted from the Airbnb site immediately and that two subsequent orders will be issued to compel the deletion of the remaining listings.

Airbnb said it believes Spain's decision goes against both European Union and Spanish law.

"The root cause of the affordable housing crisis in Spain is a lack of supply to meet demand," the spokesperson said. "The solution is to build more homes, anything else is a distraction."

The company said many local people earn extra money by hosting tourists in their homes and that the ruling will deny them much needed income.

Airbnb has said it would like to see an EU-wide approach to short-term rentals, with consistent rules established throughout the bloc.

The central government's move this week follows a similarly emphatic decision last year by the local government in charge of the city of Barcelona, which announced it will withdraw approval for all of the area's 10,000 licensed short-term rental apartments by 2028. The municipality said it was making the move to make sure the city has adequate long-term rentals for local people.

Residents in several Spanish cities have taken part in protests against overtourism and complained about overcrowding, a lack of affordable housing for locals, and shopping areas being geared toward short-term visitors.