Airbnb supports registration across G4 cities

Airbnb is committed to being a good partner to cities and communities within the Netherlands, with the Airbnb City Portal now available in all G4 cities. The City Portal will help each municipality to more easily implement and enforce mandatory registration for holiday rentals.

Introduced one year ago as a first of its kind resource for local government, the Airbnb City Portal creates further transparency for cities by making it easier to identify and report suspected non-compliant listings with an incorrect registration number or invalid exemption on the platform. 

The Hague is the latest city in the Netherlands to enforce registration of holiday lets, following Amsterdam in October 2021, and Rotterdam and Utrecht in January 2022.

Holiday rentals in the four cities are required to display a registration number unless exempt. In all G4 cities, Airbnb has voluntarily deactivated listings that failed to adhere to this new requirement. The changes also mean any new, non-exempt Hosts in the G4 will require a registration number to sign up and list their property on Airbnb. 

To support Hosts and help them follow the rules, Airbnb has created a dedicated space on the platform for Hosts to add registration numbers, as well as regular reminder emails and webinars for Hosts. Hosts can register their listing online via the websites of the municipalities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague) and easily add the allocated registration number to their listing on Airbnb.  

Airbnb welcomes proportionate regulation and data shows that registered listings receive more bookings than unregistered listings. The vast majority of Dutch Hosts with active listings have already registered with their municipality, and those that have been removed from the platform have had little or no recent booking activity: Over 90 percent of the listings that have been removed had not been booked in the last three months. Airbnb is committed to continuing to work closely with the cities to investigate any reported cases of non-compliance. 

These actions follow The Great Rebalance of European Travel, a series of voluntary commitments launched last year by Airbnb to work with communities, move forward in collaboration with governments, and to support the regulation of short-term lets, including the registration of holiday rentals in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.

Through partnerships with cities, Airbnb has collected and remitted more than €34 million in tourist taxes in Amsterdam on behalf of Hosts and guests since 2015. And, in the last year, Airbnb signed tourism tax agreements with Haarlem, Rotterdam and most recently The Hague. The locals who host on Airbnb keep the vast majority of what they charge for their listing. 

“Airbnb has long supported the implementation of a holiday rental registration system in the Netherlands. Today, we’re proud to make good on our commitments by voluntarily supporting registration, removing unregistered listings, and launching the City Portal in each of the G4 cities. We know from our work in thousands of cities around the world that good regulation strengthens communities, and we’re committed to working hand-in-hand with cities to help rebalance travel as it continues to recover following the pandemic.”

Pieter Guldemond, Head of Northern Europe Policy at Airbnb