Hotel owners in the Flemish city of Ghent are calling for a crackdown on Airbnb due to the impact it is having on their business.
To fight the influx of online flatshares, hotel owners are requesting the introduction of a maximum number of days per year that landlords are allowed to rent out their Airbnb lodgings. This maximum number of days per year that Airbnb owners are allowed to rent is already in place in some cities across Europe. In London, the limit is 90 days, while in Amsterdam, the limit is 30.
“This is unfair competition. We want a limit of 30 days per annum to be placed on private individuals renting out rooms,” said a spokesperson of Ghent hotels, Rudy De Wit.
Ghent hotel owners plan to make a proposal to the city’s authorities reported NWS VRT.
There are 1,149 Airbnb listings in Ghent. 59.9% are entire homes/apartments, 39.1% are private rooms and 1% are shared rooms. 48.3% of these listings are “high availability” meaning that they are available for more than 90 days per year, according to the New York data project, Inside Airbnb.
Airbnb has been on the receiving end of criticism from various local authorities across the world, who cite the online marketplace as a source of disruption to traditional hospitality industries and property markets. In February 2019, the City of Paris attempted to sue Airbnb for failing to comply with the city’s regulations. The case has since been dismissed by a court in Paris.
Airbnb is an online home-sharing platform that offers accommodation and tourism experiences. Established in 2008, Airbnb offers listings in 191 countries to 150 million users, according to statistics provided by Property Management.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
