'Dialogue' but no consensus in Airbnb-Barcelona council meeting amid housing crisis

The Barcelona mayor, Jaume Collboni, and Spain's CEO of the online housing platform, Airbnb, met at the city council on Tuesday morning amid the housing crisis and the plans of the authorities to remove all tourist apartments by 2028.

During the meeting, local policymakers addressed the issues of what they claimed as "illegal tourism flats," however, they were "not satisfied at all with the outcome of the gathering," mayor Jaume Collboni said during a press conference after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Airbnb has claimed that the city council is using the platform as a "scapegoat" and that hotels and tour operators are the "main promoters" of mass tourism. Representatives of the company say that the Catalan capital's policies on tourism accommodation are "arbitrary" and "draconian," as they say these are excessively harsh and severe.

Collboni explained that during the meeting, they had proposed a "change of legislation across Spain regarding illegal flats," as well as keeping their plan of getting rid of all tourist apartments by 2028. Authorities say the "best way to not start a judicial process" is by reaching an agreement. But Airbnb, Collboni noted, had "archaic and dilatory" behavior.

At the press conference, Collboni hoped that after the meeting, everyone would understand "there will be a change of context," and that Barcelona would be "the first city to get rid of all tourist flats."

In a written statement released during the meeting, Airbnb said that "while Collboni says that it is important to strengthen regulations on tourism accommodation to tackle mass tourism, he defends licensing 5,000 new hotel rooms in the city."

New legal framework

Collboni said that it was required to address in the future the legality and the offering of "illegal flats on their platforms," and cited that "other platforms have a similar function and work well," the mayor said after the meeting.

"We want a constructive attitude," he added.

This is why he is proposing a new agreement to incorporate the illegality of tourist apartments into the new legislation when all tourist accommodation licenses are removed in November 2028.

"We will not allow illegality and will not allow this to continue," he added.

This is why local authorities are proposing a new agreement starting in July to combat illegal flats, and working side-by-side with all public administrations and studying all potential penal and civil options at the state and European level.

Airbnb celebrates "dialogue"

Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago told Catalan News that he was pleased that after ten "complicated" and "sometimes quite aggressive" years, the company has finally been able to meet with a mayor of Barcelona and open up a line of dialogue.

However, he pointed out that both sides have very contrasting points of view with regard to a new framework agreement for managing tourism. The Airbnb head said that his company has been requesting a framework that is in line with European regulations.

Rodríguez de Santiago pointed out that such continental regulation will be obligatory to comply with by May 2026 and that it establishes the need for local regulations to be "proportional and justified," and added that he is "delighted" to work with the council to organize short-term rentals in the city.

"Obviously, we cannot agree with the intention of eliminating tourist flats by 2028, but based on this disagreement, I believe we can work towards a new regulatory framework adapted to the new European reality," he said.

The CEO pointed out that Airbnb have agreements with public bodies in the likes of Ibiza, Murcia, and the Canary Islands, and said he wanted to emulate such agreements in the Catalan capital. 

Tenants' Union

Barcelona's most active housing rights group, the Tenants' Union, has considered Collboni's words as "empty rhetoric," as he is just "reusing political proposals," as he has "been saying for years that he will remove all tourist apartment licences," Enric Aragonès, spokesperson of the union, told media outlets on Tuesday morning.

Aragonès also criticized Collboni, promising something for 2028, when he "does not even know if he will still be in government."

Meanwhile, the union called on the current policies promoted by the mayor to restrict the obligation of building promoters to build 30% of new social housing when constructing new housing, or the coliving.

The union also expressed its concern about the short-term rents that are becoming the norm and the situation in the Vallcarca neighborhood, where police entered an empty building.