Excerpt from Evening Standard
A row has broken out between Airbnb and rival online letting agencies over rules that are supposed to stop hosts letting out their homes for more than 90 days a year.
The Californian company says that one year on from its introduction of an automatic block that kicks in once a host has notched up 90 days of lettings, no other online agency has followed suit.
Hosts are required by law to seek planning permission if they want to go beyond the 90-day limit. This is intended to prevent disturbances from unofficial and unregulated hotels.
Airbnb, which has more than 75,000 London properties on its website, said it has commissioned research showing a spike in listings on other platforms after it announced its intention to introduce the cap.
According to the analysis by data company Transparent, Airbnb’s biggest rivals, Booking.com, Home-Away, TripAdvisor and Casamundo, have a combined 40,000 listings — none limited by an automatic 90-day cap.
James McClure, northern Europe general manager at Airbnb, said it was “the only platform that works with London to promote the rules and limit how often hosts can share their homes. We are proud to help Londoners share their homes responsibly and are disappointed others are failing to take similar steps to help make London stronger”.
Click here to read complete article
Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.