In a significant move to ensure transparency and legality in the Spanish rental market, Booking.com, one of the world’s largest providers of holiday accommodations, has removed over 4,000 illegal listings for tourist accommodations from its platform. This extensive measure followed a request from the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and Agenda 2030, which had identified irregularities in the advertisements. Most of the removed listings were located in the popular Canary Islands.
Ministry Praises Cooperation: A Key Step Against Illegal Holiday Rentals
On Thursday, the Ministry, led by Pablo Bustinduy, confirmed this development and explicitly praised the “cooperation” with Booking.com. This collaboration underscores the Spanish authorities’ determination to regulate the holiday rental market and provide consumers with the necessary guarantees. The Ministry’s initial request aimed to ensure compliance with applicable laws for holiday accommodations.
According to the consumer protection agency, the 4,093 removed listings exhibited one or more of the following three main violations:
- Lack of a license or registration number.
- Provision of license numbers that did not match those issued by the authorities.
- Failure to specify the legal nature of the landlord (whether they were freelancers or individuals).
Fight Against Illegal Listings: Impact on the Housing Market
Minister Bustinduy emphasized the crucial importance of this “fight” against illegal advertising for holiday homes. In his view, this is essential to “put an end to the indiscriminate proliferation of this type of accommodation.” He sees it as one of the main causes of the massive difficulties in accessing affordable housing currently affecting thousands of people in Spain, especially in areas with high tourist influx, such as the Canary Islands. In addition to the archipelago, the removals also affected listings in Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Navarre, La Rioja, and Castile-La Mancha.
Airbnb Precedent: Authorities Show Firmness
This comprehensive action by Booking.com comes just one week after the Supreme Court of Madrid (TSJM) for the second time supported the demand made to Airbnb, another leading company in holiday rentals. The Ministry had demanded that Airbnb remove more than 65,000 illegal listings of this type of accommodation. Although Airbnb requested injunctions against the first court order (which affected 5,800 listings), the court again rejected the request and upheld the need to withdraw the illegal advertisements. This sends a clear signal to all platforms and providers of holiday accommodations in Spain: compliance with regulations is non-negotiable.
