9 ms·

Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

79 points by kawera 9y ago

mpblampo 9y ago
I'm pretty sure "eye of the storm" refers to the calm in the center of a hurricane. This writer seems to use it to mean that AirBNB is suffering the worst damage.
- sundaeofshock 9y ago
  "Amid growing evidence that the massive upsurge in tourist apartments is driving rents up and residents out, the city has launched a crackdown on illegal, unlicensed apartments, and Airbnb, the dominant platform, is in the eye of the storm, although not the only offender." Sure looks to me like the author is suggesting that Airbnb is is in the center of a storm causing damage to the city of Barcelona.
  - algesten 9y ago
    Which I agree with. Airbnb is great when it's not run for profit. People purchasing second homes to rent out are ruining nice places.
    - askAwayMan 9y ago
      Out the of the five I stayed in the past four years, they've all been second homes rented out with the exception of one in Portland, Maine.
      - wcummings 9y ago
        Ive stayed in what could only be called illegal hotels in NYC. In one case I was furnished with keys in a real estate/property mgmt office. Probably depends a lot on your price point tbh.
- iamacynic 9y ago
  things are probably pretty calm at airbnb headquarters.
- mcculley 9y ago
  If you are in the eye, then you've had the strongest winds already hit you and they will hit you again as the eye passes by, not that this defends the metaphor.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  "Eye of the storm" refers to the center of a hurricane, which, yes, I'd relatively calm. As a metaphor it is often used to evoke the calm surrounded by chaos aspect, but sometimes (though less frequently) used to evoke the center of the chaos without particularly evolving the calm ("ground zero" is an alternative metaphor for the latter use which lacks ambiguity, but seems to be less used, IME, since 9/11.)
msoad 9y ago
I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Yes, just imagine that a city tries to deal with being overrun. They don't hate the tourists, they try to stay as organized as they can. There is such a thing as being too popular and the tourists converging on Barcelona are starting to make life for the people that live there harder and harder (rising rents, for once thing). You'll be more than welcome in Barcelona, it's a fantastic place to visit though you'll have to count with insane waiting times at the various 'sights' that are on every tourists 'must see' list. But try to play by the rules if you can.
  - horsecaptin 9y ago
    I'm sure you are welcoming, but when the streets are painted with anti tourist messaging, then "you'll be more than welcome" sounds a bit hollow.
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      I've been in Barcelona multiple times over the last few years and it's one of my favorite cities. There are few places where the locals are as accommodating towards tourists but there are limits to how big a proportion of tourists : citizens you can have before there have to be some rules. The fact that rent prices have jumped up tremendously to the point where locals are pushed out of Barcelona to make way for yet more professionally run AirBnB hotels (which are open 24x7 and all year round) does not help either. If you see this as 'anti-tourist' imagine that the town or city where you currently live becomes the next hot thing in tourism and you'll be forced to go live somewhere else, or it will be impossible for you to get a spot on the beach in your city and so on. Sooner or later you too would be a big proponent of some reasonable restrictions. I've seen some incredibly rude and downright criminal things in and near Barcelona on account of people who were just there for a few days, if anything the population is very restrained in how they are dealing with this, especially because it is for a large fraction of them their daily bread and butter. But I'm really not surprised by what is happening there, the same is happening in many other tourist spots the world over (Amsterdam being another one, for instance).
bjl 9y ago
Good. Hotels and hostels are for tourists, apartments should be for residents.
- gonvaled 9y ago
  Agree. If Abnb wants to disrupt the hotel market, build cheap and good quality hotels.
  - prostoalex 9y ago
    The concept of "student hotels", which is a step above most hostels, is quite well-known in Barcelona, e.g. http://www.melondistrict.com/en/barcelona/ http://www.melondistrict.com/en/barcelona/
- atemerev 9y ago
  Let the market decide. I am a resident, and I rent an apartment, but I have no objection over AirBnB. Tourists are good. Spain's economy is struggling. Renting an apartment to tourists via AirBnb is a lifesaver for some of my friends in Barcelona, who lived for some time without the ability to find any job (unemployment rates in Spain are ridiculous).
  - wrasee 9y ago
    That does kind of miss the whole point of the article. If you are a resident, you rent an apartment, and pay an extra 23% that in part is due to the ease at which firms like AirBnB let speculators buy up apartments and rent them out to tourists for a profit. Tourism is good for Spain, that's not lost on anyone. But the profits are not evenly distributed. Not all social problems can be solved by the market.
    - atemerev 9y ago
      Why the profits should be "evenly" distributed? Even distribution is unfair. Fairness is way more important than equality (in fact, "equality", if unfair, is definitely something you wouldn't want to create). If my friend can rent her apartment for some amount of money and it helps her to survive jobless periods, why she (or I) should bother that somebody is doing it on the larger scale for larger profits? Good for them. And preventing these profits by prohibiting AirBnb will also kill her small income stream, which is way more important to her than it is for the rich guys (who will just invest freed money to something else).
malandrew 9y ago
> Anti-tourist graffiti has begun to appear, with “No tourists past this point” painted on a street in the old city and “Why call it tourist season if we can’t shoot them?” near the popular Park Güell. In recent weeks, several hotels have also been attacked with stones and paint bombs. Wow. This is shocking when Barcelona is a city that earns a sizable chunk of revenue from tourism. The annual report published by the Barcelona Tourism agency shows significant growth in tourism since 2000. With this in mind, AirBnB appears to be used as a scapegoat here. http://professional.barcelonaturisme.com/imgfiles/estad/OTBC_Informe_Anual_2015.pdf http://professional.barcelonaturisme.com/imgfiles/estad/OTBC...
- Oletros 9y ago
  > This is shocking when Barcelona is a city that earns a sizable chunk of revenue from tourism. Yes, some people earn a sizable chunk, but I highly doubt that common people benefits from it.
  - toehead2000 9y ago
    Yep thats how economics works. If the tourists aren't paying you directly then you're just being screwed.
  - oriol16 9y ago
    not sure why this is downvoted when it's perfectly reasonable
- moonbug22 9y ago
  That sign has been there for at least a decade. Cap pis turistic.
- faragon 9y ago
  Anti-tourist movement in Barcelona is a minority, mainly from extreme-left parties and activists from Catalan nationalist parties. I live in Barcelona, and I'm ashamed of those xenophobic acts. My guess is that over 90% of Barcelona population don't endorse such xenophobic attitude. Despite being affected personally, e.g. because of tourism flat rental makes generic rental to have huge price increases (15% year to year increase (!)), I'm not against tourism, because tourism also means less unemployment, and most people having a better situation. Also, having people from around the world willing to visit the city where I live is amazing, and I'm very proud of it. Being Spain still recovering from the long, huge, and terrible financial and housing bubble crisis since 2007, I'm terrified with those radicals blaming the tourists for a problem that should be fixed by local rulers. In my opinion, the major of Barcelona city (not the province), Mrs Ada Colau (former radical-left activist) should put her efforts into increasing housing offer, so the demand-offer reaches a reasonable equilibrium (e.g. fiscal discounts for empty flats put in the rental market, fiscal discounts for building flats in former industrial places that are like ghost neighborhoods, etc.). From my side, you're very welcome to visit Barcelona as tourist, as worker, or as whatever you want while you do more good than harm :-)
Ihateyouallhn 9y ago
You sound like a cunt
Ihateyouallhn 9y ago
You sound like a cunt too
faragon 9y ago
No, because of tourist rentals are not enough for covering the local demand, the problem is 10x bigger. Regarding people needs, in my opinion the problem is that people in charge in local government (Barcelona city) is not focused in solving the problems, but in agitprop for increasing their own power (currently the extreme-left is governing Barcelona in minority). Also, regional government (Catalonia) is focused in doing separatist agitprop in order to hide their corruption. In top of that, central government (government of the country, Spain) has no competences to help in the housing problems, as most competences in that regard are local/regional.
- Oletros 9y ago
  Extreme left? Sure
- bcncit 9y ago
  Thank you for clarifying. As a Barcelona citizen, I was with the impression that Spain's central government furious attack against Catalonia people's right to self-determination was to simply to distract the fact that the central government party (Partido Popular) has over 900 politicians currently on trial with charges of corruption (more than any other party in the whole Europe). In fact, I thought central government's current situation was great material for a potential sequel of a great movie. The sequel could be called "Wag the Dog 2" with Robert de Niro as adviser of central goverment's president Mariano Rajoy, who as you know will be forced to declare in one these trials for corruption. So, in your opinion the best solution for Barcelona is that Spain's central government should take over and fix our housing issues in Barcelona? Thanks in advance for elaborating on the reasons why you think it is a good idea after the chaos they created in Barcelona's airport with something much simpler as passport control.
  - faragon 9y ago
    You're a Spanish citizen, as there is no such thing as per-city citizenship in Spain. BTW, you can twist the words at your convenience, if that makes you happy.
    - 9y ago
jzl 9y ago
Barcelona has had a huge market for apartment sharing since long before Airbnb. I travelled there in 2000 and remember stepping off the train into the train station and being bombarded with people offering a room to stay in their place for a reasonable fee. As I knew from research this was going to happen that's exactly what I planned on doing. I picked the most trustworthy-seeming person I could find and stayed in their place for a week. Had an amazing time. Full credit to Airbnb for bringing this process into the digital/smartphone age, but the roots for this in some cities, like Barcelona, was always there.
olliej 9y ago
That headline seems very ambiguous :)

79 points by kawera 9y ago

I'm pretty sure "eye of the storm" refers to the calm in the center of a hurricane. This writer seems to use it to mean that AirBNB is suffering the worst damage.

sundaeofshock 9y ago
"Amid growing evidence that the massive upsurge in tourist apartments is driving rents up and residents out, the city has launched a crackdown on illegal, unlicensed apartments, and Airbnb, the dominant platform, is in the eye of the storm, although not the only offender." Sure looks to me like the author is suggesting that Airbnb is is in the center of a storm causing damage to the city of Barcelona.
- algesten 9y ago
  Which I agree with. Airbnb is great when it's not run for profit. People purchasing second homes to rent out are ruining nice places.
  - askAwayMan 9y ago
    Out the of the five I stayed in the past four years, they've all been second homes rented out with the exception of one in Portland, Maine.
    - wcummings 9y ago
      Ive stayed in what could only be called illegal hotels in NYC. In one case I was furnished with keys in a real estate/property mgmt office. Probably depends a lot on your price point tbh.
iamacynic 9y ago
things are probably pretty calm at airbnb headquarters.
mcculley 9y ago
If you are in the eye, then you've had the strongest winds already hit you and they will hit you again as the eye passes by, not that this defends the metaphor.
dragonwriter 9y ago
"Eye of the storm" refers to the center of a hurricane, which, yes, I'd relatively calm. As a metaphor it is often used to evoke the calm surrounded by chaos aspect, but sometimes (though less frequently) used to evoke the center of the chaos without particularly evolving the calm ("ground zero" is an alternative metaphor for the latter use which lacks ambiguity, but seems to be less used, IME, since 9/11.)

msoad 9y ago

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

jacquesm 9y ago
Yes, just imagine that a city tries to deal with being overrun. They don't hate the tourists, they try to stay as organized as they can. There is such a thing as being too popular and the tourists converging on Barcelona are starting to make life for the people that live there harder and harder (rising rents, for once thing). You'll be more than welcome in Barcelona, it's a fantastic place to visit though you'll have to count with insane waiting times at the various 'sights' that are on every tourists 'must see' list. But try to play by the rules if you can.
- horsecaptin 9y ago
  I'm sure you are welcoming, but when the streets are painted with anti tourist messaging, then "you'll be more than welcome" sounds a bit hollow.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    I've been in Barcelona multiple times over the last few years and it's one of my favorite cities. There are few places where the locals are as accommodating towards tourists but there are limits to how big a proportion of tourists : citizens you can have before there have to be some rules. The fact that rent prices have jumped up tremendously to the point where locals are pushed out of Barcelona to make way for yet more professionally run AirBnB hotels (which are open 24x7 and all year round) does not help either. If you see this as 'anti-tourist' imagine that the town or city where you currently live becomes the next hot thing in tourism and you'll be forced to go live somewhere else, or it will be impossible for you to get a spot on the beach in your city and so on. Sooner or later you too would be a big proponent of some reasonable restrictions. I've seen some incredibly rude and downright criminal things in and near Barcelona on account of people who were just there for a few days, if anything the population is very restrained in how they are dealing with this, especially because it is for a large fraction of them their daily bread and butter. But I'm really not surprised by what is happening there, the same is happening in many other tourist spots the world over (Amsterdam being another one, for instance).

bjl 9y ago

Good. Hotels and hostels are for tourists, apartments should be for residents.

gonvaled 9y ago
Agree. If Abnb wants to disrupt the hotel market, build cheap and good quality hotels.
- prostoalex 9y ago
  The concept of "student hotels", which is a step above most hostels, is quite well-known in Barcelona, e.g. http://www.melondistrict.com/en/barcelona/ http://www.melondistrict.com/en/barcelona/
atemerev 9y ago
Let the market decide. I am a resident, and I rent an apartment, but I have no objection over AirBnB. Tourists are good. Spain's economy is struggling. Renting an apartment to tourists via AirBnb is a lifesaver for some of my friends in Barcelona, who lived for some time without the ability to find any job (unemployment rates in Spain are ridiculous).
- wrasee 9y ago
  That does kind of miss the whole point of the article. If you are a resident, you rent an apartment, and pay an extra 23% that in part is due to the ease at which firms like AirBnB let speculators buy up apartments and rent them out to tourists for a profit. Tourism is good for Spain, that's not lost on anyone. But the profits are not evenly distributed. Not all social problems can be solved by the market.
  - atemerev 9y ago
    Why the profits should be "evenly" distributed? Even distribution is unfair. Fairness is way more important than equality (in fact, "equality", if unfair, is definitely something you wouldn't want to create). If my friend can rent her apartment for some amount of money and it helps her to survive jobless periods, why she (or I) should bother that somebody is doing it on the larger scale for larger profits? Good for them. And preventing these profits by prohibiting AirBnb will also kill her small income stream, which is way more important to her than it is for the rich guys (who will just invest freed money to something else).

malandrew 9y ago

> Anti-tourist graffiti has begun to appear, with “No tourists past this point” painted on a street in the old city and “Why call it tourist season if we can’t shoot them?” near the popular Park Güell. In recent weeks, several hotels have also been attacked with stones and paint bombs. Wow. This is shocking when Barcelona is a city that earns a sizable chunk of revenue from tourism. The annual report published by the Barcelona Tourism agency shows significant growth in tourism since 2000. With this in mind, AirBnB appears to be used as a scapegoat here. http://professional.barcelonaturisme.com/imgfiles/estad/OTBC_Informe_Anual_2015.pdf http://professional.barcelonaturisme.com/imgfiles/estad/OTBC...

Oletros 9y ago
> This is shocking when Barcelona is a city that earns a sizable chunk of revenue from tourism. Yes, some people earn a sizable chunk, but I highly doubt that common people benefits from it.
- toehead2000 9y ago
  Yep thats how economics works. If the tourists aren't paying you directly then you're just being screwed.
- oriol16 9y ago
  not sure why this is downvoted when it's perfectly reasonable
moonbug22 9y ago
That sign has been there for at least a decade. Cap pis turistic.
faragon 9y ago
Anti-tourist movement in Barcelona is a minority, mainly from extreme-left parties and activists from Catalan nationalist parties. I live in Barcelona, and I'm ashamed of those xenophobic acts. My guess is that over 90% of Barcelona population don't endorse such xenophobic attitude. Despite being affected personally, e.g. because of tourism flat rental makes generic rental to have huge price increases (15% year to year increase (!)), I'm not against tourism, because tourism also means less unemployment, and most people having a better situation. Also, having people from around the world willing to visit the city where I live is amazing, and I'm very proud of it. Being Spain still recovering from the long, huge, and terrible financial and housing bubble crisis since 2007, I'm terrified with those radicals blaming the tourists for a problem that should be fixed by local rulers. In my opinion, the major of Barcelona city (not the province), Mrs Ada Colau (former radical-left activist) should put her efforts into increasing housing offer, so the demand-offer reaches a reasonable equilibrium (e.g. fiscal discounts for empty flats put in the rental market, fiscal discounts for building flats in former industrial places that are like ghost neighborhoods, etc.). From my side, you're very welcome to visit Barcelona as tourist, as worker, or as whatever you want while you do more good than harm :-)

Ihateyouallhn 9y ago

You sound like a cunt

Ihateyouallhn 9y ago

You sound like a cunt too

faragon 9y ago

No, because of tourist rentals are not enough for covering the local demand, the problem is 10x bigger. Regarding people needs, in my opinion the problem is that people in charge in local government (Barcelona city) is not focused in solving the problems, but in agitprop for increasing their own power (currently the extreme-left is governing Barcelona in minority). Also, regional government (Catalonia) is focused in doing separatist agitprop in order to hide their corruption. In top of that, central government (government of the country, Spain) has no competences to help in the housing problems, as most competences in that regard are local/regional.

Oletros 9y ago
Extreme left? Sure
bcncit 9y ago
Thank you for clarifying. As a Barcelona citizen, I was with the impression that Spain's central government furious attack against Catalonia people's right to self-determination was to simply to distract the fact that the central government party (Partido Popular) has over 900 politicians currently on trial with charges of corruption (more than any other party in the whole Europe). In fact, I thought central government's current situation was great material for a potential sequel of a great movie. The sequel could be called "Wag the Dog 2" with Robert de Niro as adviser of central goverment's president Mariano Rajoy, who as you know will be forced to declare in one these trials for corruption. So, in your opinion the best solution for Barcelona is that Spain's central government should take over and fix our housing issues in Barcelona? Thanks in advance for elaborating on the reasons why you think it is a good idea after the chaos they created in Barcelona's airport with something much simpler as passport control.
- faragon 9y ago
  You're a Spanish citizen, as there is no such thing as per-city citizenship in Spain. BTW, you can twist the words at your convenience, if that makes you happy.
  - 9y ago

jzl 9y ago

Barcelona has had a huge market for apartment sharing since long before Airbnb. I travelled there in 2000 and remember stepping off the train into the train station and being bombarded with people offering a room to stay in their place for a reasonable fee. As I knew from research this was going to happen that's exactly what I planned on doing. I picked the most trustworthy-seeming person I could find and stayed in their place for a week. Had an amazing time. Full credit to Airbnb for bringing this process into the digital/smartphone age, but the roots for this in some cities, like Barcelona, was always there.

olliej 9y ago

That headline seems very ambiguous :)