How Spain's Airbnb Crackdown Will Boost Your Holiday Costs

MADRID – The price of a holiday in Spain could become more expensive for Britons thanks to soaring hotel prices as the government clamps down on AirBnb According to a report, this discovery has been made.

The Spanish government has launched an offensive against homestay apps. Airbnb along with other tourist accommodations as part of attempts to address an escalating housing crisis and public anger unsustainable numbers of tourists .

The previous week, the Spanish administration Ordered Airbnb to take down almost 66,000 vacation postings. From its platform due to violations of rules during the national campaign against tourist accommodations.

Spain The consumer rights ministry stated that out of the 65,935 listings on Airbnb, numerous entries failed to provide a license number, identify whether the host was an individual or a business, or align with official documentation.

Airbnb stated they would contest all these rulings and maintain the listings active until the matters were addressed in court.

However, visitors to Spain should now expect to pay more to stay in increasingly in-demand hotels. In 2014, Barcelona limited the number of tourist flats to 10,000. Hotel prices in the city continued to rise.

In 2024, the typical cost of a hotel room in the city reached €188 (£158) per night, marking an increase of 8 percent from 2023 and 30 percent higher than the average rate in 2019, as reported. a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

The Catalan city leads as the third priciest destination for accommodation in Spain, following closely behind Marbella located on the southern coastline, and the Balearic Islands.

A study conducted by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers at the request of the Barcelona Holiday Apartment Owners Association (Apartur) revealed that imposing limits on short-term lets in Barcelona would not prompt property owners to convert their units into long-term rental accommodations for local residents.

Research into the rental market from 2014 to 2023 in Barcelona revealed that after the local government implemented the moratorium, average rent costs escalated by 72 percent. Meanwhile, the quantity of short-term lets barely budged, climbing by merely 2.2 percent to slightly under 10,000 units.

In 2023, New York prohibited all short-term rental apartments for tourists, leading to hotel rates reaching an unprecedented $417 (£308) per night by August 2024, as reported by Apollo Academy. This was notably higher than the average rate of $230.79 (£170) observed during the initial quarter of 2023.

Spain is trying to deal with The mix of a thriving tourism industry, making up 13 percent of GDP, along with easing the housing crisis.

Next month, thousands are anticipated to hit the roads. demonstrations against overtourism as part of a co-ordinated protest throughout Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal.

Activists argue that holiday lets drive rental prices out of locals' reach.

Read Next: I quit my job in London to move to Spain – I don’t require a substantial salary for an excellent life here.

Barcelona’s mayor Jaume Collboni has pledged to revoke all 10,000 permits for rental apartments used by tourists by the year 2028.

Marian Muro, the general director of Apartur, stated that if Barcelona were to lose every single one of its tourist apartments, this would likely cause hotel prices to increase.

"If you remove all competition within the tourism lodging segment, it allows the hotel industry to increase their rates without restraint," she explained. The i Paper .

There’s currently a popular belief circulating that eliminating holiday homes would resolve our issues. Should they revoke all these short-term letting licenses, property owners wouldn’t necessarily have to convert them into long-term rentals. Instead, what we should focus on is constructing additional residences.

Ms Muro stated that Barcelona had 12,000 vacant residences due to rental limitations that deterred property owners from leasing out their apartments.

The Spanish Hoteliers Confederation reported in a document released last month that there was a 1 percent increase in prices during the initial three months of 2025.