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Lifting of US – UK / EU travel ban due this November
Reading Time: 2 minutesUS / UK: President Joe Biden has confirmed that fully vaccinated UK and EU travellers will be allowed to travel to the US from November. The White House has confirmed that it will lift the 18 month ban on international travel, first introduced by Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. […]
Eurostat releases first key data on European rental sector
Reading Time: 3 minutesEurope: Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union [EU], has published the first key data on short-term accommodation booked via four of the most prominent online travel agencies [OTAs]. The statistics, which are being regularly updated by Eurostat, cover national, regional and city-level data on the number of stays booked and the number of […]
Airbnb potentially targeted in Digital Services Act
Reading Time: 2 minutesEurope: The Dutch government have recommended that the European Union specifically target Airbnb in its new Digital Services Act. It alleges that greater data openness will allow it to better manage the side effects of the short-term rentals market. Regulators have been proposing greater regulations on big tech since 2017, with the specific Digital Services […]
Travel platforms take on Google Travel in EU letter
Reading Time: 2 minutesEurope: Bloomberg reported this week that a group of travel industry leaders have requested that the European Union investigate Google Travel’s practices in an open letter. The group claims that the website is unfairly displaying its own website over other vacation rental options. Named parties in the letter include Expedia Group, TripAdvisor and eDreams Odigeo […]
Rental professionals react to UK’s departure from European Union
Reading Time: 2 minutesUK: Experts within the professional short-term rental industry have been reacting to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020, following more than three years of uncertainty after the in/out referendum was held back in 2016. The matter has proved to be a divisive one across the UK and tensions still […]
Luxembourg seeks EU solution to Airbnb problem
Reading Time: 2 minutesLuxembourg: The small nation of Luxembourg is facing debate over short-term rental taxation and regulation. The country, however, is suspending its debates until a EU-wide accord is reached. The Ministry of Economy stated in parliamentary questions its official position is that Airbnb’s commercial activities should be taxed, in similar fashion to France. It has previously […]
Airbnb backs creation of EU digital regulator in face of court victory
Reading Time: 2 minutesEurope: After its landmark court victory, Airbnb has expressed support for the creation of a digital regulation body. It hopes that this body will be a part of discussions on the upcoming digital services act currently being proposed. Airbnb’s court victory in the European Court of Justice declared it a digital services platform rather than […]
European organisations set up guidelines to help support short-term rentals
Reading Time: 2 minutesEurope: The short-term rental (STR) industry has been the subject of criticism in recent years as the pressure on housing grows in cities worldwide. Both Amsterdam and Paris have threatened to place bans on short-term rental services such as Airbnb in recent months although industry bodies now believe regulators need to better understand how the […]
Airbnb commits to clarifying its pricing and terms of service for the EU
Reading Time: < 1 minuteEurope: Airbnb is to modify its terms of service to better inform consumers of their rights and list its prices in a more transparent way. EU commissioner for justice Vera Jourova called on the San Francisco-based short-term rental accommodation website to make the changes as it has been breaching EU rules by not differentiating between […]