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Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

theguardian.com

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Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#11

Post by anigbrowl »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

It's not anti-tourism, and your snide attitude does not serve you well. Barcelona is certainly the single nicest city I have ever visited or worked in. I fully support the residents defending themselves against parasitical freeloaders, as opposed to the fair players who are genuinely renting out space in their own homes on an occasional basis.

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#12

Post by mau013 »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

You will be welcomed in the city. I'm an expat living in Barelona for the last 7 years and in my experience tourists have always been welcomed. The local exasperation is against rising rent prices, which can be linked to the high increment of unlicensed apartments being rented out for tourism... personally I've got nothing about the sharing economy, but in my experience most of the flats I've seen are being rented out "professionally" meaning they are not being shared. I understand this is a limited sample, but if it is representative of the larger set then the story that AirBnb is helping Barcelona households make an extra income would not stand, and it would rather be a small number of people making a killing out of unlicensed apartment renting. The easiest solution would be for AirBnB to release audited data and prove that it is in fact helping small households the most and not a small number of people. (Keep in mind that hotel capacity is still able to cope with current levels of tourism, except during the Mobile World Congress)

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#13

Post by orthoganol »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

And I'm considering moving to Barcelona and I'm happy they aren't letting all the vacancies in the good parts be snapped up by full time AirBnB renters.

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#14

Post by stickfigure »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

This is a common sentiment, but it's misplaced. Cities don't speak with a single voice; it only takes one or two malcontents to make a statement that hits the news. They don't speak for everyone, or a majority, or even necessarily a significant minority.

I've traveled pretty widely and experienced a small amount of mistreatment. In Oaxaca, some faceless person threw a rock at me from a building across the street (missed, fortunately). That doesn't change the fact that almost everyone I met in Oaxaca was wonderful and I look forward to going back.

I've been to Barcelona recently. I have friends who live there. It's a pretty great place to be a tourist! Although personally, I'd recommend the north (especially Pamplona & Logroño) because the wine is better and cheaper :-)

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#15

Post by vkou »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

I don't live in Barcelona, but the well-being of a city residents is more important then the well-being of its visitors.

They are the ones that have to live with the consequences.

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#16

Post by kornakiewicz »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

I live in the touristic center of Barcelona (since one year), because of my job.

Income from tourists is not linear result of tourists number. The number of hotels, size of beaches and amount of places to do things is limited. The widths of streets is very limited, especially near Las Ramblas and Barri Gothic. I love this city and want people enjoy it, as much as I do. But if we overcrowd it, nobody will.

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#18

Post by Oletros »

msoad wrote: post #5

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there. It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

> It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

It is not hate and the ones earning the tourism money are not the majority of people living and working in the city

Re: Barcelona cracks down on Airbnb rentals with illegal apartment squads

#20

Post by prostoalex »

gonvaled wrote: post #19
bjl wrote: post #17

Good. Hotels and hostels are for tourists, apartments should be for residents.

Agree. If Abnb wants to disrupt the hotel market, build cheap and good quality hotels.

The concept of "student hotels", which is a step above most hostels, is quite well-known in Barcelona, e.g. http://www.melondistrict.com/en/barcelona/
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