Spain orders Airbnb to remove over 65,000 illegal ads

Spain government on Monday said it had ordered tourist rental platform Airbnb to take down more than 65,000 illegal adverts as it tries to balance the flourishing sector against a housing crisis.

The consumer rights ministry said it had “urged” the US company’s Irish-based subsidiary to remove 65,935 adverts for “breaching the advertising rules for this type of tourist accommodation”.

The infractions included failing to provide a licence number, not indicating whether the leaser was a professional or a private individual, and giving licence numbers that did not match those granted by the authorities.

Airbnb had appealed previous government requests to remove the illegal adverts, but a Madrid court has backed the authorities and urged the California-based firm to “immediately” withdraw 5,800 ads, the ministry said in a statement.

A company spokesperson said Airbnb would continue to appeal and criticised the “indiscriminate methodology” of the ministry, which it said was not competent to enforce tourist accommodation rules.

The ministry “has deliberately ignored” Spanish Supreme Court rulings that meant not all adverts on Airbnb required a registration number, added the spokesperson.

Spain, the world’s second most-visited country, hosted a record 94 million tourists in 2024, making the lucrative sector a driver of its buoyant economy.

But residents of tourist hotspots such as Barcelona have blamed short-term rentals for scarce and unaffordable housing and changing the fabric of their neighbourhoods.

According to the latest figures published by the National Statistics Institute, 368,295 properties were dedicated to tourist accommodation in November 2024.

Consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy will work “to stop the chaos and widespread illegality of tourist accommodation, as well as to promote access to housing and safeguard consumers’ rights,” his ministry added.

AFP