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Estonia vetoes EU VAT proposals for sharing economy services
Reading Time: 3 minutesEstonia / EU: Estonia has vetoed plans to introduce VAT on sharing economy services such as Airbnb and Bolt in the European Union at a meeting with finance ministers in Brussels.
Short Stay Summit 2024: STAA chair Fiona MacConnacher
Reading Time: < 1 minuteUK: Fiona MacConnacher, the new chair of the UK Short Term Accommodation Association and public affairs manager, UK & Ireland at Booking.com, speaks to STRz at the 2024 Short Stay Summit.
Whimstay announces Booking.com partnership
Reading Time: < 1 minuteUS: Last-minute vacation rental bookings platform Whimstay has announced a partnership with Booking.com to expand its property offering.
Eurostat: 678.6m nights spent in STRs via OTAs in 2023
Reading Time: 2 minutesEurope: Guests spent 678.6 million nights in short-term rental accommodation in the European Union [EU] booked via Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group or TripAdvisor in 2023, according to the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat.
Booking.com ends sustainability programme due to ACM pressure
Reading Time: 2 minutesNetherlands: Booking.com has announced in a statement that it is ending its Travel Sustainable programme and that it will replace it with the option to filter for properties with a third-party certification.
EU legislation moves closer as Parliament reaches data agreement
Reading Time: 3 minutesFrance / EU: EU regulation on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services has moved yet another step closer after the European Parliament approved an agreement reached in November with negotiators from member states.
Report: Surge in “fraudulent” council home renting in the UK
Reading Time: 3 minutesUK: An investigation by the i newspaper has uncovered evidence that council homes are increasingly being rented out fraudulently as holiday lets.
Travalyst launches sustainability certification initiative
Reading Time: 2 minutesUK: Not-for-profit organisation Travalyst, a global coalition of some of the biggest brands in travel and technology, is launching an initiative to acknowledge sustainability certification bodies within the accommodation sector.
APPG calls for “national and mandatory” registration scheme
Reading Time: 2 minutesUK: A new report into short-term lets and the visitor economy by the All-Party Parliamentary Group [APPG] for Hospitality and Tourism has called for a “national and mandatory” registration scheme in England.
Airbnb welcomes “watershed” EU data collection agreement
Reading Time: 3 minutesEurope: The European Council and European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a draft regulation on data collection and sharing for short-term rental accommodation services across the European Union [EU], in a bid to “promote a balanced tourism ecosystem”.