56,000 ads for flats to be taken down

The Generalitat demanded the removal of approximately 56,000 adverts for unregistered tourist flats in the last two years in Catalonia, 28,000 in 2017 and 27,900 in 2018, according to data made public by the Directorate General for Tourism, says the Catalan news agency (ACN in Catalan). More than 33,000 of these accommodation offers were found on websites that are part of the Spanish Association of Digital Platforms for Temporary Renting (PAT in Spanish), which ismade up of: HomeAway, Rentalia, Spain Holiday and Niumba. Around 15,000 ads without the mandatory registration numbers were published on Airbnb.

In addition, in this last year, eight cases have been opened against new web platforms. According to the Department of Business and Knowledge, as 2019 begins the levels of compliance with regulations are at 80% for PAT, and at 60% for Airbnb.