Airbnb’s EU Pledge: New rules and a sustainable tourism future for Europe

New EU-wide rules are a watershed moment for Airbnb and our industry. For the last two years Airbnb has called for an EU-wide approach to short-term rental rules that will help make regulations more consistent across the bloc. Now, those rules are a reality. 

EU rules provide clear guidance to platforms and authorities on how to share data and develop proportionate rules, whilst making it simpler for hosts to register with their local authority. 

There is now a two-year implementation period before the rules are formally adopted and Airbnb’s priority is to expand our work with cities and governments to ensure the transition to new EU rules is a success for everyone.

We are setting out our commitment to be a good partner to authorities during this period through four pledges:

• Supporting best practice data sharing: We are committed to supporting efforts to implement new EU short-term rental rules in a secure, effective and streamlined way for the benefit of everyone. Over the coming months, we will work closely with the European Commission as well as national governments to prepare for the set-up of the ‘Single Data Entry Points’ that will receive data from platforms and help ensure technical alignment between these and our platform. 

• Delivering on local rules: The EU’s short-term rental rules are already changing how laws are developed in Europe and will require new approaches from governments and platforms. We hope to see more targeted and proportionate policy interventions by Member States in line with the EU’s approach that address local concerns whilst protecting everyday homesharers whose activity has no impact on housing supply. We commit to working with authorities in the EU on smart local rules to complement EU STR and sharing aggregated data and insights at the draft regulation stage to inform policy making. We also commit to supporting authorities in their enforcement of proportionate local rules, including with technical solutions. Indeed, Airbnb is already working with hundreds of local authorities across the EU to support regulatory compliance through products such as the City Portal.

• Addressing housing: ​​We recognise the acute housing affordability crisis impacting many parts of the EU and the importance of this issue for authorities and communities. Though this is a complex problem with many root causes, we want to ensure that short-term rentals do not exacerbate current challenges. Alongside the effective enforcement of EU STR, we commit to carrying out more research to better understand the impacts of short-term rentals and the role we can play to help.

• Building a sustainable tourism future: Airbnb is committed to helping ordinary Europeans grasp the opportunity of hosting and working with all areas of the EU that want more tourism. We already work with rural associations, heritage organizations and sectors such as vineries to promote travel to lesser visited areas and are always willing to do more. We also commit to supporting areas that have too many tourists in the same place at the same time. Guests from Airbnb typically account for a small portion of visitors to Europe’s major cities and our technology based interventions such as flexible booking are helping to disperse guests further still. Through our commitment to work with tourism organizations and authorities, we can transition towards a more balanced and sustainable future for Europe that includes having sensible rules in place and collaborative efforts to disperse travel more evenly. 

EU rules mark the beginning of a new chapter for short-term rentals in Europe. The 24 month transition period represents an opportunity for platforms and authorities to work together and plan ahead for widespread data sharing, proportionate local rules and a more sustainable tourism future.

Through these pledges we will carry the momentum of EU STR and help communities that want tourism to prosper and those that want more control to get the right guardrails in place.

We are already working with authorities to deliver these pledges and stand ready to work with more in the months to come.